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colethewolf · 2 years

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I assumed at first that Crystal's age would be like those 80's movies where we all just ignored the obviousness that a full ass adult was playing a teenager and that she'd been dead all this time. But now I'm seeing posts saying she's been alive all this time?

Like...first off, bringing back THIS story line without Dylan and Arden is kinda a slap to their faces. Not surprised. Part of it I also agree is laziness in Jeff's part. Another part is just the narcissism of him thinking he could redo the favorite season of a lot of people without the reasons why it was people's favorites.

All the while retconning and ruining characters and their relationships. In this case....Lydia. She felt Allison die. Of course it could be said her powers were still developing and new and Allison could have been engulfed by the powers of the nogitsune and so close are death and grief and strife that she could have been fooled. BUT...that's the kind of detail only fanfic authors would care to give a character other than Scotty. I don't think nor will I give Jeff that kind of creative credit into thinking.

But also...they were "sisters". Best friends. Regardless of how much influence the nogitsune has had on Allison, if they just have Lydia accept her back into her life...it's just another show that Lydia is nothing more than a pretty thing to keep around and if she had any character development it was accidental or only done on purpose if it moved the plot along so Scott could get his next power up.

She can miss Allison. Of course. But if they don't show her feeling guilt or betrayal...by allison's actions or even her powers, then it's a failure on Lydia's character and because it's a movie not a show, I can easily see her mental state of all of this not even being mentioned.

I don't think she's been alive this whole time. I think he's been revived somehow by the nogitsune or nemeton. My best guess is that Jeff was too lazy to actually think up an original idea for this movie, so he just pulled a bunch of leftover script ideas from season 3B.

Back during 3B, I think there were obvious plans to have more than just 1 trickster spirit. They specifically referenced the fox, raven, and coyote. Stiles was the fox, Malia was obviously the coyote, and that would've left Allison as the raven. And consider how Allison also opened the morgue door in her dream (like how Stiles opened his bedroom door and let the nogitsune in) I think Allison was supposed to be possessed as well.

But for whatever reason, Allison wasn't possessed. And Malia, who was clearly set up to be a villain, was changed at the last moment to be a good guy and then they brought her onto the show to fit Crystal's absence. So, I'm willing to bet that Jeff just took "evil Allison" from his list of shit he never got around to doing and stuck it in this movie.

Allison returning doesn't have a genuine emotional impact because Jeff Davis refused to allow any characters to actually mourn. Sure, you had a few scenes where Scott was sad, but they largely just moved on. The same way they did with everything else that should've caused some kind of trauma ie. Derek's abuse and Stiles being possessed and forced to kill innocents.

I remember back during 3B where Crystal said that she was initially told that she couldn't have Allison say "I love you" to Scott in her dying remarks because Allison was "with Isaac now", so Crystal fought them on that.

And I also remember how Jeff's reason as to why he refused to write Allison a funeral episode (and why he wrote a time-jump into s4 to skip all the mourning) was because he felt that characters being sad wasn't entertaining and he didn't want the characters moping around.

It's so annoying how Jeff puts such little effort into his work and yet remains confused as to why people don't like him/respect his craft. He can't be bothered to do the bare minimum like allow characters to work through the traumatic events they've lived through or even take the time to mourn the loss of a character who was literally there from the beginning. And then he gets to do a movie & he just stuffs it full of old story arcs we've already seen before.

Wow! A character who previously died comes back from the dead? A villain from a past season returns? Scott works at a vet clinic and hates being a werewolf and wants to live a normal life? It's so repetitive and unimaginative.

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matkinsarts102-02 · 5 months

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V+V Final blog reflection

Although this class did not have many projects this semester, I found it to be a very difficult but rewarding course. My crafting skills were truly challenged, as well as my creativity.

PAPER TOY

For our first project we were assigned to create a paper doll. I had never folded anything like the examples in class, and am use to creating in a 2D workspace, so I felt quite lost. My original idea was to create a small paper cat inside a large folded paper head of garlic, to symbolize my own cat, whose name is Ajo. (Ajo is the Spanish word for garlic). The prototyping for this idea was quite easy. I was able to draw a few ideas that looked foldable. I would print them, cut them, and fold them, but was never able to get the shape I wanted for the garlic head. My most successful attempt was a box-character cat around 1 inch tall and a quadrant petal cut out that folded together to create a structure around the cat. It held together by tabs cut into two petals.

I liked the idea, but didn't think it was very fun. I started over and started focusing on just the cat. I sketched multiple body parts, printed them, and folded. I failed a lot at this stage, but was finally able to get something that resembled what I was after. I made final tweaks and started working on the final result. I digitally rendered my working sketches, added a few touchups, color, and fit the pieces onto two sheets. I printed the cat onto thick paper, which was a struggle to cut and fold. I had to use glue, which interfered with the look of my project. If I had to redo the toy, I would make sure to use thinner paper, be more careful with adhesive application, and not include dotted lines in my final design.

MAGAZINE

I chose to do a magazine about tattoos. I enjoyed my topic from start to finish, but had a hard time getting inspired for content and design. I began with the idea of an 8x8 square magazine with heavy black and white imagery. However, I had a hard time working from this idea, and got "stuck" while trying to think of ways to make the magazine experimental. In the meantime, I traveled to take pictures of a tattoo shop my friend works out. I knew that I wanted to incorporate a lot of photography into my magazine, and figured that taking pictures would put me in a better position to get ideas than continuing with content layout. At the shop, I got a lot of good pictures, and was also able to pick up some tattoo stencils to serve as my found object. I would later scan these stencils and overlay color on photoshop so that they could serve as my end pages. (The ink on the stencils transfers very easily and has a hard time coming off, and I didn't want to risk loosing my final product).

After getting photographs, I worked on illustrations. I started working on a tattoo flash page of multiple designs to go in my magazine. I had wanted to make a usable tattoo sheet, but abandoned this idea pretty quickly. I also did content research and designed a few spreads. Things still were not looking right.

My PC died and never recovered a few days before the magazine's due date. Luckily, I was able to access a PDF file of my magazine to look at as reference, but decided to start anew and untether myself to my existing ideas.

I spoke to a professor who told me my 8x8 looked like "a museum dedicated to tattoos" and I didn't want it to be seen that way. Adopting new font choices, trading all-black backgrounds to white, cutting down on text, and changing the size of my magazine made all of the difference I needed. My photo spreads looked much more impressive, and content pages looked generally cleaner with more breathing room. The size change also gave me the opportunity to work with hand-rendered font which was something I had wanted to create with my process book last spring. I swapped out the flash page with playful illustrations to contrast the quite serious photographs. I think tattooing as an artform is quite diverse in the first place, as pieces can range from silly and playful, to serious and detailed; it's not limited to just one perspective. I found I wanted my magazine to reflect that, so that it is more susceptible to a variety of audiences who have an interest in tattoos.

After getting over the hurdle of printing, I was very pleased with how the magazine turned out. Crafting it was terrible on the first one, but much better on the second. Cutting bottom to left corner and scoring before folding is the way to go.

This is the first project that I have an interest in revisiting. Here is what I would change:

add a statement of intention that shares my interest with the audience.

be more conscious of word spacing, and font size (could go a hair smaller)

utilize photoshop to enhance images for more drama

explore different binding options

be more conscious of gutter size for binding

making the cover a different paper type would be intresting

not leave it out where my cat can take a bite out of the good copy (It was double wrapped in a bag, so I thought it would be fine).

POSTCARDS

I really enjoyed using the RISO machine! It was difficult at first to figure out, but I loved the look of my end result. I got a lot of compliments. I would like to use it in the future for some of my projects.

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fraserwallace55 · 10 months

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Extension Days

Since I was granted an extension for my assessment, I was able to have more time to think more carefully about it and how I could make it.

I realised when I reopened my aftereffects file that the way I had done everything was incorrect, as I had done a 6x3 layout which didn't allow for a square within the tartan to be centered, which is what I was wanting so that the next part of the animation could work as I wanted it to. Because of this error I had to go back into illustrator and redo the tartan that I was using as a reference for the positioning of all my elements, so that I could paste it back into aftereffects. I then had to redo this first step of the animation, which wasnt too bad since it was just a lot of shape duplication and then arrangement of their positions, which I did very quickly last time.

Once I had them laid out I then moved to tinkering with the positions of their keyframes, so that I could have them all offset from one another and have more interesting overlaps. It was also going to allow me to save the center line for last, as once that one exited the space of the frame I was planning to have it be tracked and followed down and away from the rest of the tartan. Before I thought about that though I had to do the second part of the tartan, that being the squares that were going to go below these lines and finish off the tartan in full.

I began by doing a single square in the middle that I spent a bit of time getting it as close to the perfect size as I could, fitting over the whole tartan square accurately and on the edge of its margins. This was super important to get right as I was then going to use that rectangle as a source shape to duplicate from, going up and below it with squares that I dragged from that original one. Then, after having created a line of three squares, I duplicated those three across to the left and right to fill the rest of the lines. Once I had them all in position I could then adjust the keyframes I had added to the source square, moving them all around and placing them where I wanted them to be.

This allowed me to make them start and finish when I wanted them to. The keyframes I had set up on them earlier had them going from non existent to full size for this part of movement, which made for a super effective introduction to them. After sorting all this out I played around with putting the squares first and the lines second, and then vice versa. These ideas both looked ok, but not astounding as having them sequential made the process of the tartan forming take almost 10 seconds, which was way too long and slow going. I thought then about putting them together, having squares show up while lines went past, which when I initially put them together immediately looked much better. I did have to adjust all the squares though, as I thought it would’ve been even better if I had them show up after an intersection in their respective place by the lines above them.

This decision was a very good one, as it lead to what I thought was quite a satisfying animation, as it was very smooth and managed I think to not come across as massively busy despite the amount of stuff that was going on. Having done this first part quite well, I could then move to the next part of the animation, where the tartan would then move down in the frame, reducing to a single middle line.

This was comparably not quite as difficult to work out as the first part, as it was mainly about adapting existing content within the animation to make a new shape that I could drag down the frame, before stopping at some point after a couple of seconds so that I could move into the third part of the animation that would reveal the text that was so important to this animation. I think it turned out well, the movement of it down the frame was interesting and a good speed that made it look like it was moving quite considerably. The stopping part of the animation was also not too bad, it was slightly sudden but I felt it got into its position in a way that wasn’t too jarring and contrasting the smoothness of everything else that had come before it. Having set this up now I could move to the next part of the animation that was going to lead closer to the text.

I had the ending square of this line come to rest at the top of the screen, before enlarging out from the bottom and filling the frame. The lines on that square also moved with the square, although I chose not to scale them with it so that I could try and vary the otherwise constant scale. Once I had the square take up the whole frame and change its colour I then made the horizontal line of the tartan stop short before the edge of the frame, before extensions of the line came down.

This part turned out rather smoothly which was nice, as it was the part in the animation where the tartan was least like it’s normal shape and structure. It also allowed for me to move into changing the frame to another color again, which this time would involve the text the rest of the animation had been building up to for about the past 15 seconds of eventual video.

This transition was maybe my least favourite part of my whole animation, as even though it could look like the lines were filling up the frame in the way a liquid would, I felt it was a rather weak way to transition into the next colour, when I had plenty of opportunity to do something better, especially with the lines that I had: they could’ve had a more pivotal role in this change. I mainly did it this way because I wasn’t sure how else to go about the change in the frame, which had to happen since I was going to bring the text in in that next part.

For this I returned back to a more tartan resemblant idea, which involved lines coming from out of frame and going across it. I also had the text match the colour of the background, so it would somewhat look like the line was moulding it’s way around the type. I had this happen somewhat quickly so that I could then move on to adding the rest of the text, which was going to complete the sentence of that specific line of my pepeha.

I had these bits of text come out from within the line, which I felt was the most effective way to do it, rather than having it come from the side of the frame and take its position from there. This also completed the main part of the animation, while also tying together all the frames to the relation of this text.

Having revealed the text and not having much allocated time left in the animation, I moved towards adding credits and making a title for the project, which I did by first resetting the background colour back to white again.

I did this by making the WALLACE text and the tartan line it was on expand out and become larger, engulfing the frame. I chose the C in that word to be the focal letter for this zoom in, as it eludes very slightly and obscurely to the next part being about the credits. To bring the background back to white, I put a copy of the word on top of the original that would not only scale with it, but go from 0% opacity to fill during this sequence. I think this transition was the best out of all the others, since it had an edge of uniqueness the other did not. Once the background was fully white again I could then add the information I needed for the credits.

I first began by adding some lines going across the frame, as a reference to the start and also to keep the consistency of the focal theme right the way through. I then had the text come in from the side as it felt like the best way to do it in this situation, as I had made the colours different in order to stand out more against these lines.

I also added music right at the end to my animation, since it definitely needed something more to elevate it and give it an extra level of depth. I wasn't quite sure exactly what I wanted to do for that, although I knew I wanted it to have some strong connectivity to the subject of the animation in order to help support it. I figured going in the cultural direction would've been good, since there is a fairly potent connection between music and tartan, not just the Wallace one, in Scotland. I thought briefly about bagpipes but I felt that would've most likely been too exuberant for my animation. Still not knowing quite what I wanted, I ended up just searching for royalty free Scottish music and scrolling pages for a while, listening to samples of every song I went past. I ended up after not too long finding a flute cover of the song Auld Lang Syne, which is used normally in occasions like New Years, and now things like graduation etc.

It ended up working quite well once I implemented it into aftereffects and dropped the master volume. It also very slightly has its beat matching parts of my animation, which his a rather great bonus. Its softness complimented the smoothness of the shapes I was working with, tying the animation together quite well and making it something I was rather happy with, which is something I don’t feel very often for a lot of my work, especially when it’s been forced into a small window of time because of myself.

While I was working through this animation and all the work associated with it, I also made the adjustments David said for me to do in my specimen booklet so that it could improve and be less space hungry like it was. Even though it wasn't absolutely necessary to do so, I wanted to do those adjustments anyway since they weren't that major and resolved a lot of the issues that had come about in my first version of the booklet. Once I had both these assignments done, I was able to finally submit my work that came out of a super messy, poorly managed first ever semester of university, which surprisingly I felt didn’t turn out all that badly.

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moonflowergayy · 3 years

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The Villaneve journey killed me. Are you aware that you’ve committed a MURDER?!?! I LIE DECEASED!!!

my evil plan worked then

#but seriously guys thank u for all the love🥺#like i worked really hard on that gifset and had various breakdowns while doing it cause ps was shutting down constantly for some reason #also the lines didn't fit well the first time so i had to redo them #and my parasitology exam was coming up so i was extra stressed #all in all i'm happy how it turned out #g0dblessthefandom #asks

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yesitsmewhataboutit · 2 years

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what about when the reader faints due to her blood sugars and she never told the boys that she’s diabetic and they’re really worried about her

Here is the fic I did I’m figuring the anon is basing the reqesut off. It’s kinda (not really) the same concept :)

Tom Holland x Reader

»»——⍟——««A/n: I hope this is ok how I made it. Also I hope I did this right… I don’t know all that much about diabetes so I hope I didn’t like… do it wrong yk😭 I did do a little research so yeah, hope this is good enough

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A long day of interviewing. You and Tom have prompted your new movie, a love story, and had piles of interviews. Fortunately, the last bunch of interviews is in London. Therefore, Tom's friends and brothers could all be there with you. Unlike the other places out of country, this time Harrison, Harry, Sam, Tuwaine, and Paddy could all join you behind stage of the interviews, which you both loved.

The morning of the last day of interviews, you woke up late. Your phone was dead. So no alarm. When Paddy came into your room, making noise about how you both were late, you and Tom were quick to jump up, running to get ready. You both quickly put on outfits fit for the interviews and hurried out of the house.

The chaotic morning you had, foreshadowed the chaotic day. It's filled with fans, pictures, mix-ups, and busyness. Of course, you had fun. It was your job. Plus, experiencing it all with your boyfriend and his family and friends made it that much more fun and bearable.

By your last interview, you were exhausted and hungry. The most you had gotten all day was a few sips of water. You were so busy that you didn't have time to think about the fact you hadn't eaten and honestly was feeling a little lightheaded. The reason you had noticed is cause Tom was the one to mention it first.

"Hey, Love you alright?" he asked. You and he are due on stage any minute. You hadn't realized you were staring off into space, slowly swaying side to side on your feet. "Y/n, you look sick," Tom's voice is laced with concern, and he puts his arm around your waist, looking at your face.

At that moment, you realized your blood sugar was probably low. But you also knew if you told Tom, he'd freak out. "Yeah. Fine, Tommy," you smile weakly. You look next to Tom, seeing Harry and Sam talking a few feet away from him. "Sam, could you hand me my bag?" Your bag; that contained the device to check your blood sugar, plus a glucose control drink.

"Yeah, let me find it," he answered, walking away to look for it.

Before he could return, you guys get announced to stage. You don't give Tom a chance to argue before you compose yourself and turn to walk on stage. Tom frowns but isn't far behind you, planting a smile on his face when you both make it in view of the cameras. You both sit down and begin the interview.

The interview was going well. You let Tom do most of the talking, keeping a smile on your face and 'lovy' eyes anytime Tom said something cute or sweet about you. Even though it's a long couch, you and Tom are sitting close together, and at some point, he had taken your hand.

"So, guys, what's it like playing a romantic couple on screen? Was it hard or embarrassing to do such sensual or intimate scenes? Considering it could be like the audience is actually watching directly into your relationship," the interviewer asked.

"Actually, what you guys don't know is we actually set up those cameras all around our home and they’re purely real," Tom jokes, causing you and everyone to laugh. "But for real, it wasn't that bad. I mean, who can complain about getting to cuddle with your girlfriend and work at the same time," he shrugs and smiles at you.

"He says that but he's leaving out the part of us having to redo many scenes because he got so into them and forgot his lines," you say.

Tom playfully groans. "I can't help it," he laughs, making you shake your head and laugh. Tom turns his head to you, smiling, but the look his eyes said 'are you ok?' Nobody else would be able to tell, but he could see how you were slightly off, just by the fact of how quiet you were the whole interview. You give his hand a gentle squeeze, turning your head back.

A few minutes later, anyone could tell you weren't ok. "Y/n, you feeling ok?" the attention is turned to you again.

"Yeah. It's just been a long day. We're all tired," you breathlessly laugh, referring to you and the boys. You knew they were exhausted too. It's clear by the way they weren't acting in their usual 5-year-old mindset.

Even though you played it off like you were ok, your head hurt, and you felt like your body was heavy. You leaned over, putting your head on Tom's shoulder, not having much motivation to still want to even be in the interview.

"You know what, you're right. It's been a long day. I'm sure you too are ready to go, so I'll bid you both a goodbye and good rest of your day." The interviewer gives you a smile and farewell.

Even though you have the chance to leave, you don't move. You don't have the strength too. Your body only reacts when Tom gets up, and you automatically push yourself up since you were leaning on him. Tom is still holding your hand, and you use it as leverage as you push yourself up, not going unnoticed by Tom. You turn toward the side of the stage you came on, walking closely to Tom, feeling your eyes open and close longer than only a blink.

Tom removes his hand from yours, wrapping his arm around your waist instead. "Hey. Let, Love you alright you don't look good." Tom's voice is concerned and caring. He's looking directly at you, even though you're only half aware, staring ahead of you. You hum, leaning your head on him again as your eyes continue to flutter.

Ready to go, Sam and Paddy approach you both, bags and coats in hand. "Hey, you good?" Harry asks, looking at both of you, mostly you, leaning and barely conscience against Tom.

"Y/n?" Tom says your name cautiously, trying to shake you a little. By now, Sam and Paddy have moved closer, both with looks of concern, plus Harrison coming to say the car is ready. You're walking on and off the line of awake and not. You're trying to rouse yourself enough to get to the car or at least walk out of the building.

You know it's too late. You know there's probably no way to get out of this without explaining to Tom and the boys, but before you can even think to ask for your bag or tell him what's wrong, the room completely cuts to black.

Tom is already holding a lot of your weight, but then you go limp, and he feels all the extra dead weight on his arm. His other quickly wraps around you, holding you against his body. Gasps from Tom, Paddy, Sam, and Harrison fill the room. Tom lowers himself to the ground with you in his arms. He's in shock, his eyes wide and not knowing what to do or say. The first thing he thinks of is to check your pulse. His fingers go to your neck, pressing lightly. When he feels your heart beating, he lets out a sigh of relief, hanging his head down.

"Y/n," he brings his hand to your cheek, rubbing it softly, "please, what happened?" For the first time since you fainted, Tom looks up at his brothers and friend, eyes pleading for him. They're looking down with the same look of worry and complete cluelessness on what to do. "W-what are you doing?" a sudden wave of annoyance goes through him. "C-call someone! Go get help!" He says it louder and meaner than he meant to, but he doesn't care. He had so many emotions going through him that nothing else mattered at the moment.

Harrison and Sam are first to turn and run in the direction of where they thought 'help' would be. Of course, by now, a small crowd had gathered, mostly a few behind-stage works that had been passing by. Tom started shaking, and his breathing was coming out short. He holds your body close, rocking as he looks up at the sky, blinking, not wanting to let the tears fall.

Paddy drops the stuff in his hands, getting down on his knees next to you with Tom. he takes your hand in his, his eyes wide as he looks over your body, just as scared as Tom. You're close with Tom's brother as if they're your own.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of Tom's heartbreaking as he held you, you started to wake up. Your eyes fluttered open. They opened, but barely, but Tom noticed, immediately holding you tighter. "Love, hi, w-what happened?" his voice is shaking. He brings his hands up to your face again, tilting it so you can see him better.

"S-sorry, Tom." Your voice is weak, and your vision is unfocused. he shakes his head, opening his mouth to disagree, but nothing comes out, not knowing what to say or what you mean. "I think my blood sugar got too low. I have diabetes," your voice is quiet and broken, your eyes barely open as you look up at him.

Before either of you think to say anything else, Harrison and Sam run up with medics from the set. Paddy lets go of your hand when they run and kneel in front of Tom and you. "Can you explain what happened?" one of them says as they set their equipment down and check your pulse.

"She said she has diabetes. I-I didn't know," Tom stutters.

"I have a glucose control in my bag," you say as loud as your voice will allow, which is pretty quiet. Paddy looks at the bags he was holding, spotting yours and grabbing it. When he opens it, he sees the bottle, quickly giving it to you. The medics check you, and Tom removes one of his hands from you to open the bottle, slowly tipping it to your lips.

You take a few sips, snuggling closer to Tom's body and zoning out, closing your eyes and not registering what the medics are saying to Tom. The words you do catch when you zone in is when he says to Tom, "Let her rest and make sure she eats. Once she's strong enough, also make sure she stay active."

By the time you make it to the car, Harry and Tuwaine had started wondering what was taking you all so long. When Tom came out, you in his arms, they were quick to ask what happened. Tom climbs in the car, reluctantly putting you in the seat next to him inside of letting you lay on his lap, knowing it's more about your safety. He sits in the middle seat of the car and has your head on his shoulder as you close your eyes.

When you make it home, everyone is all over you. Harry and Tom help you inside while Paddy, Tuwaine, and Harry unpack the cars, and Harrison fills in Tom's parents on what happened.

Hours later, you're resting in bed with Tom. He refused to leave your side, but it didn't matter since all the guys were helping you. Tuwaine made food for you, and when you woke up, most of the guys piled into you and Tom's room, wanting to make sure you were ok.

"Why didn't you tell us, Y/n?" Sam asks what everyone is thinking.

Tom is sitting up against the headboard with you sitting against his chest. You're between his legs, slouched down so that your head is level leaning back against his shoulder, and Tom's hands around resting on your arms under the blanket covering you both. You shrug, "I didn't want you guys to worry. I was fine until now. It's just we happen to have a hectic day."

"But if he had known, we would've looked out for you. We could've taken time to slow down and made sure you had what you needed," Harrison says.

"Thanks, guys," you smile. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"It's alright. Just know we all really care for you," Paddy chimes in, making everyone nod in agreement.

After a beat of silence, you yawn. "Ok, mates, let's give Y/n some rest. We'll see you guys tomorrow, yeah?" Harrison asks.

"Yeah," Tom says. "Bye, mate." They all say their goodbyes and walk out of the room, leaving you and Tom in silence. "You alright?" Tom asks quietly.

"Yeah," you say, shifting your weight and turning in his lap to lay on your side, your head on his chest.

Tom readjusts his arms, moving them around your back, taking his other hand in yours and rubbing circles on the back of it with his thumb. "You really scared me." His voice is barely above a whisper. "If something is wrong, please tell me next time."

"I will." You let yourself melt into his embrace, feeling him start slowly rubbing your back, his slow heartbeat, the silence of the room, and the warmth of him and the covers lulling you to sleep. From now on, Tom and all the boys would be more attentive. They'd help you and take care of you, never wanting anything to happen to their girl.

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Ahem: @novaresque

#tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland oneshot #tom holland x fem reader #tom holland x fem #tom holland x famous!reader #tom holland x actress!reader #Tom Holland x actress reader #tom holland imagine #tom holland fluff

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rcksmith · 3 years

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Geniuses — Five Hargreeves

Request: “Hi! I am just the annon that recently sent the request 3,11,16 and 22. You asked what I wanted, I forgot to put that I got them from the “fluff” prompt list. I am so sorry!! And don’t worry! It’s not your fault I didn’t see the list 😂😂 but thank you so much! I really like your fics and your writing style so much! 🥺🥺💖💖”

Fluff prompts:

3“You’re staring again.”

11. “Wow- you look…amazing.”

16. “I love you. You enormously stubborn pain in the ass.” 16. “I heard that!” 1 .“You were supposed to!”

22. “well the probability of that is 0, but you go ahead”

A/N: We not tolerate any pedophilia here !!

I write about Five with their 20s. I write the same about the characters of Harry Potter.

Haha love, it’s okay💖💖 i hope you like, because I really like to writing tis. Thank you for resquest. Love u❤️

English is not my first language, so I so sorry if have a mistake.

Requests are open. Love you ❤️

Couple: Five Hargreeves/Fem! Reader.

Warnings: nothing, just bad words and fluff.

(gif not mine)

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It was fun to think that Five never had an equal opponent, someone as smart, canny, sarcastic and ironic as he. Five Hargreeves was always used to being the smartest person in the room, always being the one with the quickest response on the tip of his tongue.

And, well, it was fun to think that it all went up in the air when you showed up.

You were cruelly intelligent, able to correct errors in Five's math equations, sarcastic and always had a cheeky smile on your face. You weren't used to being underneath, which is why when Five wanted to show that he was better than you, well, you wouldn't give up.

But unlike the time traveler, you didn't have super powers, you weren't extraordinary, you didn't have any skills, but that didn't stop you from being equal to him in every other way.

Whenever Five wanted to come out on top with the argument that he had powers and you didn’t, you raised an eyebrow, looked at him as if he had made a basic math mistake, and said: “I don’t need powers, I’m a genius, you should try to be one too.” And it made him furious, and, truth be told, you just liked to tease him too.

But just as the two of you had personality differences, the ability to handle emotions and people well was different from Five. You were kind, funny and wanted to make people comfortable around you. Being a genius didn't mean you shouldn't be a nice person, and Five usually forgot about it.

As you and Five spent more time together, it became clear that you two were no longer able to stay away from each other. Five liked (secretly) to have someone to really talk to. Someone that understood and followed his line of reasoning, that understood the equations he did, and that considered him a genius instead of crazy with some reasoning.

Being with you was like, for Five, meeting another human being in a dog-only world, and when he kind of told you that in other words, you laughed out loud and said: “Or how to find an equal sign in an equation.” And that's when he felt his heart pounding for you.

Five remembered when you beat him in chess for the first time, no one had ever done it before, and he agreed to play with the full awareness that he was going to win again. Well, that is not what happened.

When you checkmate his king, Five was stunned. He leaned over the board, looking at the pieces as if they had created a head. And you laughed, leaned back in your chair in a victorious smile.

“This is impossible.”

“it's actually just intelligence, why don't you use it now and then?” You were kidding, it was obvious, you couldn't stand hurting people and Five knew it. The dynamics of the two of you who were exchanging barbs.

“You must have stolen or something, this is very much your style” He returned, eyes on you as you laughed “Let's play again and I will give you a the most brutal defeat.”

“Well the probability of that is 0, but you go ahead” You accepted, first because you wanted to show that you would beat him as many times as possible, and second because there was nothing you liked more than spending time with Five.

The matches started, and you won every time. And when the sunset and the breeze was cold, you and Five looked at each other, with the peach rays of the sun illuminating their faces, and the mutual smile they gave out sweetly.

He were really enjoy the game and you knew that, and he knew you not just want the victory. You two know Just more matches would make you spend more time together. And... Five didn't remember if anyone ever really engaged in a game just to want to be around him.

But things really got more real and serious when Vayna asked you to go to one of her violin performances too. And, well, you wore a long, red dress, firm in all the right places, and Five couldn't get his eyes off you just one second.

It was as if, when he saw you, all the equations in his life had been solved. And a single thought rang in his mind: “I want her”

And the certainty of that was absolute. He wanted you as an overwhelming force, which shook his whole body. He needed you like needed oxygen. And there was no way to deny that anymore.

But it all happened in a fraction of a second, and you had just chosen that moment to approach him and ask:

“So, how am I look? Are you going to make a little joke about berries or something?” You laughed.

But Five could think of nothing but that if there were the personification of sin and perfection, it would be you. He looked at you as a whole, a fucking beautiful woman with a fucking brilliant mind. You are incredible and he had no other adjectives for you.

“Wow- you look… amazing.” You felt all the intensity and truth in that sentence, and your heart pounded in your chest.

For, truth be revealed, you had dressed up for him. Because wanted him to think you were beautiful. Because you thinking him were a young God with all the vigor and beauty.

Five really wanted to focus on anything but you. Not In the swing of your body, in the outline of your lips, in how he wanted to put you out of that dress. He really tried. But his eyes were always drawn to you at the end of the effort, as if you were the only thing worth seeing.

“You’re staring again.” Luther whispered in his right ear, while Five kept his eyes on you for a moment that seemed to him seconds, but to Luther it was hours.

But who could blame him? You looked like a mirage, too beautiful to be true. And Five wanted to record every detail of it in memory.

“Take care of your life!” He replied, taking his eyes off you.

After that night, Five already knew that he could no longer keep his hands off you. He couldn't just look at you anymore when the hunger to touch you started to hurt physically. As soon as you got back to the mansion, he grabbed you by the wrist, in a strong, firm grip, and pulled you with him as he climbed the stairs towards his own room.

Five needed you. A kiss, a caress, a body-to-body contact, anything, he just needed it. And it had to be now, he not wait for you to go home and come back later, he couldn't wait days...damn it! He couldn't wait seconds!

Then he knocked and locked the door behind you when you entered the his room.

“What the hell?” You rubbed your wrist that he must not have measured how much firmly him hold you “You're acting like a nut and I thin ...”

But Five didn't give you time to continue. He couldn't give you time. He could not explain something that for him was still a mess. So he showed you.

Five came to you in big, determined steps, and he fit your face in his hands before tilting and sticking his lips to yours. And then the world seemed to make sense for the first time.

Everything was suspended. The people, the rotation of the earth, the wind, the noise of the streets. Everything went into a black hole and was no longer important. The only thing that really mattered was you. And Five kissed you until the oxygen was strictly necessary.

“I have been waiting for this for some time.” You confessed, and Five blew out a low laugh, answering you with another kiss that ended up taking you to a bed and messy sheets.

After that night, Five became more attached to you, and the relationship grew stronger over the weeks.

“You know this is wrong, right?” You said as you took a look at the equations he had made that afternoon.

Five looked at you with a frown, irritation in his eyes, but you were trying to contain your laughter.

“You have nothing else to do no?”

“Besides seeing your accounts wrong? No.” You had fun, taking one of the white chalk Five was using and erasing an equation from it, redoing it in the right way.

You could feel his gaze on your back, but you did your best not to laugh and return the chalk complacently.

“Now it's right.”

Five looked at the account you redid, and gave you an expression of so few friends that you couldn't control your laughter anymore.

And his expression closed even more. You shook your head and were already on your way to the door when when you heard him mumbling:

“I love you. You enormously stubborn pain in the ass.”

Then you laughed even harder and turned to Five, who had been doing his math again on the walls of his room.

“I heard that!”

“You were supposed to!” He countered without even waiting a second, and then you came back towards him, the laughter still present in your voice, your eyes full of play and love.

You put your arms behind his waist, still with the remnants of laughter coming from yours lips, and leaned your head against his broad back.

Five felt and heard your laughter, and then controlled himself not to laugh too, before giving yours hands that were hugging his waist a few gentle pats.

“You are unbearable.” You mumbled, but full of love overflowing with the words “But I love you.”

Then Five laugh came and he exchanged pats for an affectionate affection on yours hand, signaling that he also found you unbearable, but that he loves you.

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fenoderee · 3 years

Text

薫 [Guitar] Interview

Let's start with an interview with Kaoru, the main composer of the Band. He has been steering the Band in the direction of what he feels is new and interesting musically, but in what mode has he been working on the music now, and how did he complete the new song "Oboro"?

Nothing is interesting if it's exactly what you think it is at the beginning, but it becomes interesting if you think "it could look like this" and continue drawing.

-Since we're doing this remotely, I'm also curious about where you are now... Is it your home studio?

Kaoru: It's like a studio, a place where I write songs and draw pictures.

-A place where you can concentrate on one work. Have you had a studio for quite some time?

Kaoru: About five years ago. I've been using it since I started writing songs for 'The Insulated World' (released September 2018).

-I'm also curious about the monitor screen behind you, which I assume you're still writing songs on.

Kaoru: No, this is just the data for "Oboro". There's also a guitar in the composition.

-It's a studio that you can use freely 24 hours a day, are you the type of person who sets aside time to write songs?

Kaoru: Basically, I do, but it depends on the moment. When I'm in the mood, I don't need to set a time to write.

-I've heard that you've been writing songs for your next album for quite some time?

Kaoru: Yes. We started writing songs before we had finished "The Insulated World." I don't know if they will end up on the album or not, but I started writing them anyway.

-The style of your previous work was also key in terms of what inspired you to write a song and how you think about it, but what did you see in "The Insulated World“ that made you want to pursue it further?

Kaoru: To put it simply, I wanted to create something more intense. The last album was made with the intention of creating something intense, and the album before that "ARCHE" (released in December 2014), was a straightforward package of what we had created at that time. For the next album, I want to make sure that the songs I've chosen are the only ones I can think of. In that sense, I want to make a very intense album. I don't want it to be an intense album, or a slow album, or anything like that, but I want it to be a whole piece of work.

-Do you write your songs with the whole album in mind, rather than just one song at a time?

Kaoru: Yes, that's true. But when we first started writing the songs, I had a feeling about it, but I hadn't told the band yet.

-What kind of sounds and phrases come to you as a starting point when you are conscious of wanting to make something strong?

Kaoru: The way we create doesn't change much. It doesn't matter what the starting point is. I just start writing and then somewhere along the line I start to betray myself. I'll put in a phrase that sounds different. It's all about making the song more interesting. It's more like if you start off with the right idea, the song won't expand from there. I'm trying to find songs where I can find the unexpected.

-Do you also do some kind of input work to draw your own inspiration?

Kaoru: I do input, but I don't know if it's open or not. When I sit down in my studio and think "Come on, let's do it", I don't really think about anything else.

-Do you feel that starting to draw together has given some kind of feedback to your music?

Kaoru: I thought there would be, but not really (laughs). It's still the same, both in terms of salary and songs. If I tried to create it myself, I'd end up thinking in a very unorthodox way. The more I draw, the more I think the same way as I do when I write songs. It's not interesting if it's exactly what I had in mind from the start, but if I start drawing randomly and when something comes out, I think "it could look like this", and then I go on with it and it becomes interesting.

-So you don't like the fact that you can predict what you are going to do?

Kaoru: Yes. But in the case of a song, you can say "I've tried it, but I think I'll redo it", but with a picture, once you've put in one stroke, you can say "Oh, it's not the same", so the tension is different in that respect.

-Returning to the subject of one song, last year DIR EN GREY released "Ochita Koto no Aru Sora" as a download. When was this song born?

Kaoru: Last spring...well, it's been around for a while. It was a song that we had been working on. We reworked it and made it again.

-Were you in the mode of "I want to make it strong" from that point on?

Kaoru: I think we were in that mode, but I have an image of that song as a single, so it's a bit different. I wanted to put it together as a single, but with an unexpected twist. So it's a mixture of mellow, loud and core.

-But I think you felt you were able to move forward with one new song. Was there anything that came out of that?

Kaoru: It's still like we're trying to get our hands on something that's shrouded in mist. I'm still struggling with it.

-From what point did you start to make "This Single"?

Kaoru: Unusually for me, I started with a chord progression. I thought it would make a beautiful song. But as a song it was just a chord progression and I didn't have a definitive image yet. So I gave the members a listen to the song and said "Let's try it".

-Did you write the chord progressions while playing the guitar?

Kaoru: No, the keyboard. I thought it would be easier to understand the development of the song if I added the guitar when I played it for the members, so I did, but I hadn't added it before.

-A single keyboard is an instrument that makes it easy to visually see how the notes are stacked. Do you find it easier to move on to something unexpected if you use such an instrument?

Kaoru: When I'm creating phrases on the keyboard, I'm only imagining how the song will go. It's not that I'm trying to make the sound pile up purely because it's on the keyboard, but simply because it's easier to see than playing the guitar. This was especially true for "Oboro" and nowadays I always review the notes once on the keyboard. I also created "The World of Mercy" (released in September 2019) on the keyboard at first. When I added guitars to it, the song changed drastically.

-"Oboro" is finished in an arrangement that incorporates strings, but is the rough phrase of strings in your head from the beginning?

Kaoru: I didn't include it in the demo stage. In fact, I was thinking of not including it. But when I created the guitar solo and was thinking about what to do before it, I came up with the idea of strings. I put them in, and it worked out well, so I decided to put strings in the second half as well.

-So the guitar solo led to the string arrangement.

Kaoru: To put it coolly, yes (laughs). For a while we were trying to get rid of the guitar solo, but recently we've been trying to add the flavor of the guitar solo to the songs. I was struggling with this until about halfway through, when I really thought the guitar solo was necessary. Even now, there are times when I don't think it's necessary. But this is the same idea I had when I started adding guitar solos again. I grew up with that kind of music, and I was always impressed by the cool guitar solos of my favorite artists. I don't think solos are really necessary in this day and age, but as long as it's not too dull, it's okay. That's why I think about the phrases I use in my solos, but it's not like I have any deep feelings about them.

-When you were thinking about the phrases and melody for the guitar solo, did you have a song in mind yet?

Kaoru: I had a tentative song in mind, but I hadn't finished the verses yet.

-Oh, really? It's a solo with a melody and tone that fits the color of the poem very well.

Kaoru: So maybe it was my mouth that called up this poem (laughs).

-I'll say it, brother!

Kaoru: That's a lie, a lie (laughs). When I was thinking about the guitar solo, I felt like I was drawing a picture. I was trying to figure out what kind of sound I wanted the chords to make while creating a certain atmosphere. It's like I'm trying to figure out what emotion I want to put into it. The general idea was to keep the first phrase as it was, but change the nuances in the details.

It's limited, so you can't do something like a power collision, but it will surely be a live that is nothing but DIR EN GREY's live.

-You're a real romantic when you can get away with this kind of melody and arrangement.

Kaoru: Yeah, that's right (laughs).

-Another thing I noticed was how few guitar tracks there were. Is this a result of your desire for a change in the construction of the sound?

Kaoru: I think a lot of people feel that this song is easy to understand, but we just didn't make it easy to hear everything. If you listen to it carefully, it's actually not an easy song to understand at all...let's just say that (laughs). If you listen to it thinking that you can hear everything that is in it, you will never hear it. In fact, there are many "sounds" that are far away. I put them in such a way that you can't hear them. So I'm trying to make you feel it. I think the guitars in this song are meant to be felt. I don't want you to listen to it, but to feel it. That's why it doesn't come out with a bang, but there's something there. The number of tracks is smaller than in the days of "Dum Spiro Spero" (Continued in August 2011), but I thought it would be more interesting to let the listener hear that there are actually various sounds at key points. In that sense, I want the album to be dense.

-Did you come up with such a clever method while struggling with the music in your secret studio?

Kaoru: I'm basically twisted (laughs). But when I think something is not interesting, I naturally come up with something like that. When the album finally comes out, I think it's OK as long as everything is interesting and fits together. It's not like I haven't done this before, but this time I took the plunge.

-In this case, I think you have to be very careful about sound awards and mix balance. What kind of instructions did you give during the recording process?

Kaoru: I didn't make any detailed instructions. I just recorded it normally, reamped it in the studio, and at the last minute asked the engineer, "This is how I want it". The rest was left to the mix engineer. However, I had already talked with the members at the pre-production stage. I wanted the whole thing to sound like a warble, and the guitars were relatively up front. When it came time to mix it, I tried to make it more of a feeling than a sound.

-Neil Avalon was the mix engineer, was it easy to convey the subtle nuances?

Kaoru: Neil seemed to understand. Even so, it was difficult to convey even the most recognizable nuances, and I had many exchanges.

-You said you were going to have him play the guitar, but could you give us some pointers on "this part is actually the guitar"?

Kaoru: To make it easy to understand, in the A melody, there's a kind of arpeggio that goes back and forth. It's like a single note phrase.

-Is it an echo-like effect with a lot of depth?

Kaoru: Yes, yes. That's the one that's actually getting straightened out little by little (laughs). But you can't tell unless you listen carefully. The first shot is a bit choppy, so you can understand it, but the second half is very year-round and you may not understand it. It's interesting to understand.

-As I unraveled Oboro, using what you taught me as a hint, I felt like I was getting deeper and deeper into it.

Kaoru: Yes, I think it will be fun, so please listen carefully. Well, I'll try not to make you sit down (laughs).

-I'm a passenger, though, lol.

Kaoru: It's just something I came up with. But it wouldn't be interesting to have a song where everything is played, or where all the voices are heard, or where all the sounds of the five players must be heard because it's a band. If that's the case, then the guitar doesn't have to be played loudly.

-Did completing this song make what you wanted to do for the album clearer?

Kaoru: It's just that now that "Oboro" is done, I don't think there will be any more songs like this one (laughs). But we originally wrote this song as a ballad, and the album's ballad will be released as a single first. "Oboro" exists in my mind only as a single song, so I think I need a song with a different selection.

-Are you starting to give shape to it?

Kaoru: No, it takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of time for me and my team members to get to know each other. It's hard to find something that says, "Oh, you don't have to think that hard". So I try not to think about it (laughs).

-That's just like Dr. Den who is in album production mode (laughs). I always send the best car with the best machine to the landing place.

Kaoru: It's true. I can't decide, or rather I don't want to decide. I want to use the possibilities to the fullest as they grow. The members say to me, "Shouldn't you decide what kind of album you want to make?“ I usually answer, "No, I'd like to keep it a little more vague“. This always lasts until the second half of the album production (laughs).

-Since last year you haven't been able to perform live as much as you'd like, does that put you in a better frame of mind to concentrate on writing songs?

Kaoru: We haven't toured for a year now, we used to tour twice a year. Now I think there were hints in the casual conversations I had with the members in the dressing rooms before the gigs. I would get an idea for a song from a casual conversation, like "this song might fit this way". So I think it would be better if I had a chance to talk to the band members.

-Conversations with the members are different during the writing period and in the dressing room. In the dressing room, they might express their honest opinions, so it's easier to understand what they are thinking about.

Kaoru: Yes, that's true. It's hard to see because we don't have that now.

-Is your biggest input from your members?

Kaoru: I want to make decisions myself, but there are many things I can't decide. If the members say "it's good", I think "oh, it's good". I don't know if it's the right answer on my own.

-At the audience concert in May, I was asked to start by talking with the 5 members in the dressing room.

Kaoru: I don't think we have time for that (laughs). It's been a long time since I've been to a live concert.

-When the magazine goes on sale, the live performance will be in a few days. It's been a long time since you've done a live power exchange with the audience, how are you feeling now?

Kaoru: I sent my ideas for the setlist to the members just the other day, but no one responded, so I don't know if they think it's okay or if they'll think about it after rehearsal (laughs). I'm not sure how that will feel. But I'm not worried at all. I'm sure it will be nothing but a DIR EN GREY concert. Also, in a situation like this, everyone has their own opinion, and it doesn't mean that those who come to see the show are right. It will be the first one, or the beginning, or if it is the first step to get something, it will be the second step, so I would like to think about it after we try it.

Text/ YUKINOBU HASEGAWA, HIROKI KATAGIRI [GiGS/Equipment]

Photo/ REISHI EGUMA [C-LOVe CREATORS]

Translations by me.

#Dir en grey 薫 #Translation #Fan Translation #GiGS #Magazine #interview translation #Kaoru #薫 #Oboro #Dir en grey Oboro #Dir en grey #Dir en grey Kaoru

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beautifulterriblequeen · 3 years

Text

B2:S - Chapter 5

Much of this series will be about the differences and additions in the novel version, and how they contribute to my understanding of story canon. But there will be character appreciation, the odd theory and headcanon, and suchlike as well.

Here be lots of Viren deets, Best Boy Soren deets, some writing/continuity stuff, worldbuilding appreciation and half of a theory, Detective Rayla, Moon Temple geeking, Claudium and dark magic, and more!

Spoilers for Book Two: Sky below.

(I know for darn sure that I wrote up a post for chapter 4, but I can't find it anywhere so I guess Tumblr ate it and I'll have to redo it at some point, but today is not that day)

Viren, my evil dude, my bad guy, coming in clutch with the worldbuilding and backstory again! If you want to know decades of information, you gotta talk to Viren. Or read his scenes, at least. Here, he seems to not sleep much when he has a big problem to analyze his way through. Solutions trump pretty much everything else in this guy's life, and he's had a really hard week with a lot of new and complicated problems. Of course he's getting sleep-deprived trying to find his way through them all.

Harrow put so much trust in Viren when he made him High Mage! He just threw himself extra hard at that Lady Justice blindfold, didn't he? Didn't really want to see what Viren was doing in his magic study, so he left Viren to his devices. And Viren has a lot of devices.

Also, this is fascinating: Viren made the secret passage to his "less official study" in Katolis Castle! And he was inspired to do so by the way his own mentor kept the Puzzle House. What else could a Puzzle House be, except a place with secret passages? Yay! secret headcanon that "the Puzzle House" is just "Katolis Castle" from Kid Viren's perspective tho

So either Viren built all of those passageways, or at least the ones to his dungeon. Which means he has to have, or know where to get, a stash of those glowing blue Moonshadow crystals. Hmmm.

I can't wait to learn more about Kpp'Ar and young Viren, btw. From this description of Viren and all his literal secret ways, it feels like another parallel between Viren and Runaan, with the whole "secretive paths, members only, insider knowledge" type stuff. Only the really cool members of this cult club get to know the secrets, and guess what, kid, you're cool now but you can never tell anyone, okay? Our secret.

Yeahhh, that'll never backfire in any way for either of them.

Kpp'Ar calling puzzles and secrets "man-made magic," though. Yes sir, knowledge is indeed power.

This chapter mentions Runaan by name, from Viren's perspective. Generally that would imply that Viren knows his name, even though assassins do not share their names, and Runaan didn't seem to give his to Viren in the first book. However, there was a scene in book one where the last paragraph switched perspective from Viren to Runaan - a technique that's very common in visual media like movies and shows and gives you that "ohoho they left the room and didn't notice this, but you do!" vibe. Using Runaan's name there in book one, where Viren couldn't see it but readers could, helps them keep track of the assassin's story arc while maintaining Viren's racism.

So in book two, in which Runaan has no onscreen scenes (alas), using his name in a scene that calls back to the events in book one helps us remember what happened in that dungeon cell. It would be a bit muddier to recall the specifics if Viren kept thinking about Runaan as "Elf." So I'm cool with the perspective nudge because it serves a narrative purpose: clarity. But I'm also enjoying the angst of considering that, somehow, Viren learned Runaan's name either during or after the coining spell. Mwa ha ha haaa. (Obligatory "Keep my pretty name outta your mouth" goes here)

Okay, back to Viren's scheming! He took the mirror because it was human-sized in a dragon lair. He knew it didn't really fit there, and that made it interesting, so he stole it. But he realized it was really powerful when Runaan wouldn't tell him squat about it - the assassin's instinct to protect Xadian secrets from human hands meant that Viren was holding a very powerful Xadian secret. And that just made him want it all the more. Ah, Runaan, if only your relationship with lying was, like, the exact opposite of what it is. Nyx could've spun Viren a believable tale in 2 minutes flat.

Also of interest: Viren considers his cursed coins to be a final fate. He expects Runaan to remain in his coin forever. With the Chekhov's coins still extant in the storyline, we can assume that they'll come up again eventually, but Viren has no current plans to do anything with his elf money except carry it around.

It's worth noting that Viren admits that he got impatient when he trapped Runaan in the coin. Runaan's first fate in Katolis was supposed to be death at Soren's hands, but Claudia "saved" him from that. His next fate was to become spell components, but Viren's frustration with his stubbornness "saved" him from that fate, too. So now he's in a coin, where no one can chop him up at all. Yay? No, boo!

We get one last line about Runaan before Viren shifts gears: he makes a point of noting for us that Runaan's shackles are still locked shut. However much of Runaan made it into that coin - body, soul, hair care products - he was magicked there, pulled right out of his restraints.

The creepy black liquid that Viren pours right into his eyes is the last of a powerful potion he got from Kpp'Ar, and its recipe is ancient! Humans used it back in the age of Elarion to see through the illusions of the world. And we get a delightfully creepy bit of description about the preparation of this serum, which makes it abundantly clear that it's a Moon magic-based concoction, harvested from eyeless vipers on a moonless night, with the threat of irrevocable madness ("madness" by whose definition, though) if it's done wrong-

Hang on. Hold up. This is a Plato's Cave reference. OH MY GOD.

No no I'm fine, this is brilliant. Sorry, sorry, I couldn't figure why there was so much description for a potion prep that Viren didn't even have to perform himself. But now I get it. I see the light. HA. I should make a separate post for this, it's amazing.

Anyway, for reference, the humans who used this serum were called the Oracles of Ophidia, and Ophidia is a taxonomy group that includes all modern snakes. Can you say "creepy ancient snake rites"? I can! Woo!

Viren activates the serum with a spell, but apparently he's never done it before. He's not sure if it's supposed to be hot and bubbly, and he worries that it's been tainted by moonlight.

Oh, I do hope so.

The magic potion hurts, a lot. Viren will do just about anything, to himself or anyone, to do what he believes is necessary. He just risked madness and blindness to find out what this mirror does! Viren. Can you just. Take a nap or something. Have a Snickers.

This chapter gives us a fun clue that I don't remember from the show: when Viren's vision clears and he can see, his reflection has white pupils and the room reflected in the mirror has inverted colors. You know where else has inverted colors?

You know who else got white pupils for a hot second?

Okay, now it makes sense! Viren and Lujanne were both seeing into the realm beyond life and death. Him with his moon magic potion, and her with her moon powers on a full moon night at the Moon Nexus. Which is Very Interesting! Is it a direct hint about Aaravos's location, or just a separate cool detail? Orrr, does it look like a direct hint because Aaravos is actually trapped in the world beyond life and death, but it's actually separate and we'll see something about white pupils again later on?

Viren really does have self-esteem issues, we all picked up on it with his rant at his reflection. He throws a fit when he catches himself wondering if he's actually worthless. In the book version of his tantrum, he shoves the mirror and hurls a candelabra instead of flipping a table. He didn't need to shove the mirror to set the fire, but it's in here. Foreshadowing that perhaps, if push comes to shove, Viren will choose himself over Aaravos? Giving Aaravos time to peek through and see that the coast is clear?

Soren, my boyyyyy. He has a rough night at the Moon Nexus because two sides of him are fighting with each other. He struggles to understand Callum's friendship with Rayla, and he also fantasizes about chopping off Rayla's head. One of these is a pretty ordinary thing to do. The other is Soren's internalization of what he needs to do to gain his father's approval. If he brought his dad a chopped off elf head every week, he'd probably feel a lot more confident because Viren would praise him a lot more.

Okay, okay, omg, is it just me, or does the "Moonshadow Madness" story, as it's told in the book, seem like Soren just doesn't know what a monsterfucker is? He thinks an elf bite puts humans under a spell. But vampires are sexy, and some people want them to do more to them than just bite them. A passionate kiss under the moonlight could look very bitey, especially if one of the participants has horns and you're already culturally trained to hate them. No yeah, I'm already headcanoning an actual human-elf kiss that got misunderstood by an observer long ago.

it's Lujanne isn't it, we all know, because what is a love spell but a sweet soft illusion, I mean how else does she get supplies for her Caldera, I ask you, and also Corvus was totally sent to investigate once and he told Soren at camp what he saw

And then back to magefam angst: Soren pretending that his sister's nose-tapping is stupid, even though he actually thinks it's cool, just because their dad thinks it's stupid. Viren, istg. Let your kids like harmless things. It's so cute that Soren taps his nose back at her, though! Like they have their own sibling code. I hope we get to see the nose tap again, especially now that they've chosen different sides. It could mean so much, that they're not too far apart yet.

Rayla knows what buttery pancakes smell like. I love this. Do Moonshadow elves have butter and pancakes, does Rayla eat a stack of eight giant pancakes in the morning? Orrrr it is just illusion food? I don't care, let Rayla have pancakes! Everyone loves pancakes. Pancakes will save the world. this message brought to you by the fact that I can't eat pancakes rn, send help

I love that Rayla is both sus of the pancakes and hungry, and that combines into a very motivated "I will get to the bottom of this" attitude. She kind of goes into Poirot Mode when she inserts herself into Soren and Ellis's conversation about Ava, explaining about the wolf's illusion leg and segueing into her claim that the pancakes taste sus. Claudia confirms she used dark magic, and Rayla is furious. It's different than the show's version in that it puts Rayla in detective mode, as the only Moonshadow elf in the scene, and boy does she take that role seriously. Also, she doesn't actually swallow the dark magic pancake bite. It ends up on the ground just like Lujanne's grubs from that earlier meal. These poor kids are so nutrient-starved. You guys gotta eat!!

Rayla's determination and prejudices and the fact that she super knows Harrow is dead all dovetail to make her try repeatedly to persuade Callum that Soren and Claudia are Not To Be Trusted. It's nice that the book keeps taking the time to point out that Rayla is Well Intentioned But Flawed, just like Callum and pretty much every other character in the show. No one is Right All The Time, no one Knows More Than Everyone Else.

Callum loving the sound of Claudia's unique voice is so wholesome. When you like someone, it only makes sense that you like all the things about them that they can't change - like the sound of Claudia's voice. Her choices with dark magic, not so much!

Claudia seems to have the same concerns Soren does about Callum's relationship with Rayla, but she comes out and asks him. The inherent possession implied in "your elf" is interesting, though. Elves are not people to Claudia. They're enemies who can be disassembled for the magic inside them. So maybe more like robots than living beings, if she knew what a robot was. Maybe she heard Soren's "Moonshadow Madness" story and realized he totally missed the kissing implications - but she didn't, and now she's genuinely worried that Rayla could kiss Callum under a full moon and enchant him to do her will. Good thing it's only a half moon, then!

Okay, Callum nervously making a puppet hand and then not knowing what to do with his hands and freaking out about itching and moving and pointy elbows is such a ND mood. The sudden stress of knowing that someone else is noticing your existence and maybe you're Not Existing Right, amirite? Ugh, poor Callum.

The Moon Temple! Omg it's so pretty in the description! Made to be beautiful and useful, full of knowledge but also allowing light and life inside (butterflies and vines). Lujanne, when can I move in, please? Also, it's all the more angsty because Lujanne is the only one who gets to see this beautiful place, but it has lots of chairs and shelves and tables, and it was meant to be used by lots of people. :(((

Claudia knows some of the runes on the walls. She isn't in a hurry to copy the rest of them down or anything, either. Her spellwriting is very precise, and she's a skilled mage. Her father would have made sure she was aware of the dangers of drawing sloppy runes, as much as he made her aware of the dangers of doing dark magic wrong. And the whole point of dark magic is that it's easier to learn than primal magic. Claudia supports her dad and their shared knowledge and life path. She's not gonna go nuts over an elf library she can't translate.

Side note: Between Claudia knowing some Moon runes and Viren building a secret passageway and a dungeon and lighting it with the same blue crystals that Lujanne and Ethari use for light--and Claudia exclaiming that she loves ruins--I wonder once more if there are really Moonshadow ruins somewhere in Katolis, which Viren has found and looted. Father-daughter relic hunting trip, maybe while Soren is away at camp? Omgsh that would be so wild!

Callum out here having a Viren moment with his "I feel powerless unless I've got magic that lets me help" vibes. God. I love their complicated mirroring. One of the hard differences between them is that Callum is very sure dark magic is bad because you have to kill stuff and take its power to cast spells, and he doesn't want to be a person who kills and takes like that. The line he walks to be nice to Claudia on their tour of the Cursed Caldera because he likes her, while telling her that he doesn't want to do her magic, like, ever, is so fine that it might as well be a shifting shadow on the ground. It's a very fitting conversation to be having during the half moon, with its tricks and little white lies.

Callum being out of the castle and his comfort zone, having to deal with the fact that the Claudia he loves is not quite the Claudia who's chasing him down across the kingdom, but of the two of them, he's the only one with a problem with this.

They say that if you really want to get to know someone, you should spend time with them outside their comfort zone - in heavy traffic, with a small baby, taking care of a new pet, trying a new skill, following unfamiliar directions, etc. While the castle is familiar territory for them both, Callum's never really found his comfort zone yet, while Claudia is pretty comfortable with her growing skill set. The creepy part starts to kick in when Callum begins to realize that Claudia's comfort zone encompasses a whole bunch of stuff that seems like it should make her uncomfortable... but it doesn't. But that'll be for a future chapter!

#book two: sky spoilers #book two: sky #b2:s #tdp spoilers #viren #harrow #rayla #runaan #callum #claudia #soren #lujanne #moonshadow elves #aaravos

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inessencedevided · 3 years

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(You can find the set that this gif belongs to here 💙)

From planning to posting, share your process for making creative content!

To continue supporting content makers, this tag game is meant to show the entire process of making creative content: this can be for any creation.

RULES: When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you’d like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours

I was tagged by @aheartfullofjolllly. thank you so much Pat! it was really fun to reflect about my own process 💗 You can find her post here and @lan-xichens' post that started it all here :)

Also thank you @huigusu 🥰 (who tagged me for my nie brothers set) I'll get to that one in a few days!

Now Pat gave me two sets to chose from to show my process, so obviously I chose the more complicated one :P

I only work in Photoshop CC 2018. I know that there are programs out there for easier cutting and sharpening but I have only just figured out how to do that in PS and I am too lazy to figure out any other programs right now xD

1. Idea and Planning

This set, like most of my sets with lyrics started with me reading the poem, clutching my heart and going "oh shit this fits my favourite characters!!". The idea actually started with me thinking that the first stanza of the poem would go really well with wwx during the burial mounds arc. Then I realized that the last stanza fits lwj better than him and from there came the idea to contrast the both of them next to each other. This is when I realized I wanted to do a dark-light contrast set, though I did not know that I would go with red and blue at that time. My idea in the beginning was just to do a black and white set

I was really impressed by how Pat said that she plans her sets around exact timestamps. Because I don't do that at all ^^ I just get ideas for which scenes would fit (in this case the wwx burial mounds scenes and lwj's kneeling and punishments scene) and then I watch the scenes to narrow them down.

Back when I made this set, I still used a screenrecorder (AceThinker Screen Grabber Pro to be precise. They have a test version that allows you to record up to 3 minutes) and recorded the scenes I needed from Netflix. This worked well enough but now I have the entire show saved on an external drive and it makes a world of difference when it comes to gif sharpness

Now, in this case I had to repeat this step once because when I was almost finished, I realized that I wanted a gif for the lwj corner but let's pretend I didn't do that and that's the way this gif was always going to look because otherwise this post will be way too long ^^

2. Creation

Short disclaimer: The creation process for this gifset was anything but linear. Multiple effects I used here were things I had never tried before. I just had a vague idea and tried to realize it through trial and error. So whenever I say "then I did xyz", it is implied that I ultimately went back to that step several times and changed stuff ^^

I started with the Wei Wuxian part of the gif. I usually use a frame rate of 0,06 (with some variation depending on gif length and size). I work in timeline so I converted all the layers to a smart layer. Then I resized the gif into a square, leaving big chunks of the gif empty (as can be seen below.) I flipped the gif horizontally, so he is looking inwards. This was simple because I felt it fitted the composition better. Then I imported the Lan Wangji part of the gif, again with a frame rate of 0,06. (Image 2)

After that I created a layer for masking in a separate PS document by rotating a square until it was point down (is that a rhombus?). I sized it to match my gif (540x540 pxl) and copied it over. (Image 3) a bit of masking magic and ta da! There's the basic layout (Image 4)

I put a layer of solid black behind wwx to get rid of the transparent bits (Image 5) and then started adding more white and black to both sides by adding solid whit and black layers that i put masks on and changed the opacity as i needed (Image 6)

("reading" direction: from the upper left to the lower right corner)

Then I fiddled with the colours a bit. The first thing I always do is using the curves layer to get more contrast. Then I use the colour balance tool and the selective colouring tool to get rid of that cql-typical cyan tint after that it's just trying to have it look "natural" while the colours still fit the overall scheme. This was difficult here because wei Wuxian’s side of the gif was very dark and when i turned up the saturation to see which colour dominated it was a very weird mixture of multiple colours. That's when i decided that I'd just go with red on his side, since lwj's side was already so blue and those to look great as contrasts.

After that just came a lot of fiddling with selective colour layers and brightness and contrast unti I has happy. There really wasn't much to it ^^. (Image 1)

After that I added the text. I knew I wanted the two lines to for a square of some kind. So I tried different fonds until I arrived at the one below. The two lines are in seperate layers so I could move them around and change the spacing between the letters until I was happy with the layout. I also changed the layer mode for the text to "difference" (is that what it's called in english? my PS is set to german sorry ^^), keeping their colour white. (Image 2)

I originally hadn't planned adding anything else but I felt like the gifs (plural because I switched between the gifs of this set) was still kind of empty and lacking, so I added the tear down the middle (a tutorial for that is either coming up later or already posted. I recently got an ask for this :)) (Image 3)

It still felt empty after that, so I tried different overlays. Okay no, first I wasted a lot of time on different free image sides but then I tried out different ones until I chose the one you can see in the finished gif. I liked that one because a) I felt the round shape was a nice contrast to all the straight lines already there and b) because once I applied a black and white filter to it and switched the layer setting to "difference" (again, i hope this is the correct translation) it looked a bit like a moon. (Gif at the top)

("reading" direction: from left to right)

And that's it! :)

Although in general, these gifs took so much fiddling! I went back and forth between them a lot and sometimes almost redid the entire thing because I had no idea what I was doing in the beginning and by the time I noticed an error, the only way to fix it was ti redo everything. So yeah, this set definitely is the the one that took me the longest out of all the ones I've posted so far.

3. Posting

I save all my gifs to my drafts first to see what they look like put together and to check if they look any different on mobile. Usually i do this several times and change stuff until I'm happd enough with it to hit post. Once i am happy enough, i can't hold back. Doesn't matter if it's at a time when nobody is online, i hit post 😅

And that's it!

Tagging:

@lanwuxiann for this gifset (I adore it so much. I've looked at it and read it severat times since you posted it and the poem just kills me every time!)

@suibianjie for this gifset (The combination of static images and gifs in your gifs is always absolutely perfect! This one is only my favourite of yours because the light coming from behind wwx is just so pretty!!! ^^)

@sweetlittlevampire for this piece (It was soooo hard to pick a piece of yours because I have so many favourites! But this one is just so out if this world, I want to know how you worked that magic :D)

@wei-gege for this set (sparkling shijie! 😭 that set is so incredibly beautiful! I love how you matched the colour of the overlay with her dress!)

@purplexedhuman for this set (your gifs are always incredible! I chise this one because it showcases both your colouring skills and some really intricate effects)

If any of you have already been tagged or don't have the time or energy for this, obviously no pressure to do this at all! 🥰

(btw, I originally tried to place the actual text of this under a "read more" cut but somehow it always messed with the order of the images, so this ended up as a rather long post. sorry!)

#showyourprocess #tag game #the untamed #sophie rambles #long post

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softxhariana · 3 years

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34+35 live stream

description: ariana’s live stream before debut of 34+35 remix music video.

word count: 2.22k

A/N: little piece based off this live stream that ariana did in the countdown to her releasing the 34+35 remix music video with doja and megan. obvs not included every question but just a few fun bits and harry mentions for you x

also disclaimer, this is NOT real, if u don't wanna read about these two then don't, i’m not tryna act like they’re together it is fiction.

❤ anywayz hope u enjoy luvs xox

❖ "HELLO EVERYONE! thank u for coming to this premier,” ariana smiled sweetly at the camera, as the video cut to a shot of her for the beginning of the countdown.

“we had so much fun making this 34+35 remix video for you, and uhh, we hope you love it.” she continued, playing with her hair. no matter how long she did this for she swore she would never cease to get slightly nervous in these situations. where it was her alone, in front of a camera. but her fans made her feel at ease, and she felt she owed them something, as she hadn’t done many quarantine interviews like other celebs have.

“i thought i would come celebrate and join the countdown with you guys. which is something that I've never done before, but i’m very happy to be here and i was very excited to get some questions from you all...” she held up the sheets of twitter questions she had received, “um that i’m gonna be answering while i’m here so, i cant wait to celebrate this together and countdown and answer some of your questions!” she finished with a smile.

and it was genuine. a real smile that her fans were thrilled to see.

ariana was genuinely so happy and content with her life right now. with her family, her music, her friends, harry. harry her FIANCE!! might she add.

everything just felt perfect, and after all the shit the last couple years had thrown her way, she appreciated the break.

she got her love back, she was making music that she fully loved, and put her whole soul into, and she had fans who had stuck with her and supported her through some of the darkest times in her life, that were now able to experience her happiness and personal growth with her. so truly, little things like this, felt like the least she could do for them.

“ohh this is a good one because its 34 35 related” she tucked her hair behind her ears, “@noirgrande said ‘ummm its just i wanna the end of 34+35 is it awww shit or nooo shit, i just wanna sing the song right”

“umm it is indeed no shit” she confirmed, smiling matter of factly at the camera before reciting the closing line of the song.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“@arianalocks1223 said ‘will we get to see the track list before the songs release?’” she paused for a second to process - which turned into a few more seconds, she was a bit slow today. she had told harry with full sincerity that she thought it was because she was getting old but he had just cracked up at her absurd statement, and told her that if that was the case he’d still think she was a milf

“you will!” she nodded with certainty, “indeed. ummm... i can tell you them now” she blurted, oops.

“i suppose thats not like... is that against the rules? can i do that?” she turned, to question scooter who was supervising off camera, not wanting to get her label mad at her for releasing too much information, something she has a tendency to do.

after getting the nod of reassurance from him she turned back to the camera, “so out of ‘POV’, you go into, um, an interlude called ‘someone like u’. after that is a song called ‘test drive’, after that is the 34/35 remix with doja and meg” she smiles lightly, “and after that is a song called ‘worst behaviour’, and after worst behaviour is... a song called ‘main thing’...” she finishes, a shy smirk forming on her face, dimples appearing, “so that’s the tracks.”

continuing with the countdown, ariana felt her heart warm at the love her fans were giving her and this album. she loved interacting with them and making them happy and proud of her so knowing she had done just that, was an amazing feeling.

“umm hesbloodsline... @hesbloodsline ... i’m really fond of this question because its really to the point, ‘where's the pig and where the fuck is harry?’” she smiled, holding in a laugh.

“piggy’s here, she's great, she's really doing so well and life is really good for her right now, she's really thriving and doing her thing” she ranted, a hint of sarcasm in her voice, “um, i make her big salads everyday that she likes, she's doing really great. she asked me to stop posting her as much because she's actually really offended by a lot of your jokes that you make on twitter, she asked me to have a word with you guys” she continued to joke, well aware that she probably found herself more funny than anyone else did right now.

“she doesn't like the jokes about being eaten, they really hurt her, umm yeh, and she asked me to convey that... no she’s great...” she finally decided to answer, “and harry, is on set today, so um, yeh thats where he is... but don't worry i will tell him to keep you in the loop, i’ve got you”

ariana unconsciously let a small smile take over her glossed lips when talking about harry. he had been so excited about this new project and seeing him passionate and happy about anything he’s doing, always made her happiest.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“nicole! @nastyctrl. nicole said ‘who helped come up with the concept for the positions music video, love u sm ari’ love you so much to, i love you so much more” she paused, she loved this story,

“um this is actually a really funny story, dave and i had been going back and forth on several different concepts, and i couldn't, like... marry one... i couldn't really, like, really commit to one, i wasn't 100% sold. and it was missing a certain element of empowerment. and i kept, you know, trying to think of things that would make it more impactful cause i wasn't loving what we had...”

“anddd then me and harry were on this huge hike, and he just turned to me and was like, ‘what if you were the president?’ which was like, not at all fitting cause i was dying and complaining the whole time. but i was like,” she tried to imitate a shocked face through her smile and laughed

“and when i called dave he was like ‘oh... kay, ill call you guys back’ and had the whole production team redo everything, and i had mimi pull completely different outfits and we completely started over cause that idea was what i was, craving and missing. and i was like, wow, thats so perfect” she smiled, shrugging her shoulders, “so yeh, honorary directing credit to harry styles, if you liked that”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“this is from @borderlinevinyl, who said ‘how much of the album was recorded at your little home studio?’ ummm..” she sang, looking off camera in thought, everything in quarantine had honestly just blurred into one so she was struggling to remember what exactly she recorded where,

“um... a lot of it was... i think i did parts of everything here and parts of things at tommy's i know i did, um, the final chorus ad-libs for positions at home” she began listing in her head, “i know i did all of off the table at home... i know i did the final chorus of my hair at home because we- i-” oops. she had to control the laugh threatening to leave her lips at the lack of subtlety in her correction

“-i got out of the shower and he was like ‘oh your whistles are really here right now’, and i was like y’know what... yeahh they are aren’t they” she laughed as she squinted her eyes and recited that part of the conversation, even trying to imitate his deeper accent.

she had been singing in the shower - as she always did - and harry joining her never seemed to stop her from belting out any whitney or old one direction classic she wanted to. he would even join in sometimes and they'd end up with their own mini concert, dancing around naked, shampoo and conditioner bottles in hand singing their hearts out to everything from high school musical to nicki minaj to fleetwood mac.

while it felt like too bold of statement to make as she truly revelled in and enjoyed everything they did together, showering with him was truly one of her favourite’s. whether it was steamy shower sex that had all glass surfaces in the room fogging up or letting loose and dancing and singing under the pouring water, every moment felt so intimate and sacred. it truly made her feel like they were they only people in the world.

of course he would claim she was out singing him every time she whistled and would jokingly try to replicate the note but he was truly just in awe off the sounds that came from her mouth (in all senses of the word;)

"-and so i opened ‘my hair’ and just randomly did that” she continued, “um what else did i do here, i did the a lot of the backgrounds and ad-libs for 34+35 here, um, obvious was done at home, a lot of six-thirty was done at home”

caught in her own thoughts she only realised she had probably been droning on for too long when she caught scooters eye across the room and with a blush she shook her head as if to clear it, “this is an annoying answer, everything was kind of all over the place but i did a lot, a lot, a lot of the vocals for the album at the house" she finally finished the long answer, moving on quickly as she realised she didn't have long until the premiere and she wanted to answer as many of the questions as possible.

“ok, second last question from hannah, ever- @everdxystxless, im sorry i don't know how to pronounce that” she laughs looking up at the camera with wide eyes, not sure how exactly how she was supposed to go about pronouncing the username,

“im sorry, um, but anyway she say’s ‘ari baby, how do you feel about harry getting to do a movie with florence pugh, we know your a big fan of hers, ps. i love you so much!’ well hannah, i love you too” she replies, as she thinks back to when harry first introduced the two, after she had gotten over the initial fangirling, the pair became amazing friends. florence struck ariana as such a genuine, loving person and they shared the same dry sense of humour. plus ariana might of been just a little obsessed with her accent - not that she would ever admit that and scare the girl off.

“and... um, yeah, it literally, made me beyond happy, i was fully like, fangirling when i met her the first time” she laughs as she plays with her hair, “she honestly, probably was like, ‘who the fuck is this girl? what is she doing?’”ariana imitated, a faux scared/weirded out look on her face, playing the part of a mildly pissed off florence - which she luckily had never been on the receiving end of, “im sure i was being the opposite of subtle about it but, no, she really truly is the sweetest, kindest, most beautiful, talented human being” she emphasises, the thought of any news outlets of fan’s trying to spin a ‘jealousy’ story about this making her internally role her eyes,

“midsommar is, like, one of my all time favourite movies, and she's amazing in it, and harry’s like so fucking lucky its crazy. so yeah, thats insane”

~~~~~~~~~

"...so yeah... thank you so much! this was so much fun!” ariana exclaimed as she wrapped up the Q&A, smiling wide at the camera, she knew her fans were going to love the music video and she couldn't wait for them to watch it, plus interacting with them in this way always made her happy.

“i love you guys, i miss you” she reminded, “i am so appreciative of everything you've done for this album, for these singles, for this music. i hope that, um, that this makes you super happy, i hope it makes you smile...we had so much fun shooting it and um, the girls are so fantastic, so i hope you love this and i hope you love the deluxe!”

ariana didn't know how many more ways she could say thank you and express her gratitude but she still had over a minute and a half so she’d have to come up with something, even if it meant she’d sound like a broken record

“i am so thankful for everything and for the love that you've shown this music i cant even begin to articulate it properly so, thank you! i appreciate it so much” she breathed out all in one, “but anyway, the video should be starting soon, so... i hope you like it, don't refresh! it’ll be here soon... i promise... just don't refresh” she urged dramatically, she was really dragging this out, “but yeh” she got out through laughs “the video should be starting anytime now, i love you guys” she blew a kiss to the camera before moving as close to the lens as possible “byee”.

🖤 there u go!! i hope you liked it, and any feedback would always always be welcomed and so so appreciated pls and thanku x

#3435remix #35+35 #ariana #grande #butera #ag #agb #viral no1 #hiphop #rap #RnB #music #female #woman #trio #livestream #countdown #harrystyles #hs #hariana #dojacat #megan thee stallion

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haveyouseenthis · 3 years

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Not as Good as I Want It to Be

Tl;dr: Six is a musical of buzzwords perfectly curated for a social media audience. I don't anticipate it having a long run anywhere, but I do anticipate years of people saying it should have been more appreciated than it was.

In my limited exposure (i.e. Tumblr), I've gotten the impression that Six: The Musical is much bigger than it actually is. Each of its Instagram accounts have a modest following, but nowhere near the level I expected from something I've only heard talking about in a hyped-up context. But hey, I've never listened to it; maybe it's an underappreciated gem.

Well. Now I have listened to it.

And hidden gem it is not.

Perhaps it’s better 'in consort,' where I can feel the full effect the energy of performance brings, but I'm sorry. I just don't see what everyone else seems so excited about. For me, the negatives far outweighs the positive. There's just 'n-n-n-n-n-n-no way' around it. Six is a pretty middling musical. The highest praise I can offer it is that no one song drastically outshines another. Frankly, I'm a little sad that none of them hugely impressed me. Is that really too much to ask for? To have one song that takes my breath away, that knocks me to the floor with its power or humor or emotion?

But really, that's it. It makes sense why there's a sing-along version of the album. They're great songs to belt out while you perform for yourself or with friends just as crazy and musical obsessed as you, but they're not worth hunting down a live performance.

So now we come to the things that bother me. You may not think these are even things to bat an eye at, but I doubt I'm the only person out there for whom these things have made Six difficult to swallow. Shall we start with the least offensive first?

I hate 'Haus of Holbein.'

I think it’s a waste of two minutes. It doesn’t add anything to the narrative. It needs cut. Personal feelings aside, the inclusion of 'Haus' is genuinely baffling. I understand what the writers were going for here, but the end result is that Anne of Cleaves now has two songs when Catherine Parr has to share her solo with the other five. It's an awkward break that makes for some awkward part distribution. I would have been much more impressed if the writers had managed to fit the platform of 'Haus' into Anne of Cleaves' song

Third most offensive is this musical's inconsistent characterization as well as the inconsistency in how each woman's story is framed. Four of the songs (Aragon, Seymour, Cleaves, Parr) focus more on a moment or feeling while the other two (Boleyn and Howard) tell a more complete story. However, my main problem with the difference isn't that the writers didn't commit to only one or the other, but that the moment/feeling songs are sometimes too dependent on the audience already having a base of knowledge about the life of their subject/singer. It's a minor complaint, yes, but I find it frustrating to only be given the story some of the time.

I have a bigger problem with the inconsistency of how each woman is characterized in their songs. Again, there is a roughly four/two split – although like the first if you really wanted to pull songs apart line-by-line you could probably redo the groupings – this time with Boleyn and Cleaves falling into the something-seems-wrong-here group. In her song, Anne is portrayed as a vapid, mean-girl, only looking out for ways to enjoy herself. It is her carefree ways and pettiness that get her into trouble and eventually cause the loss of her head (and life). However, by all accounts Boleyn was a charming, witty woman whose company people enjoyed. She was said to have a temper, but that seems the only bit included in the song. Also, Boleyn maintained to the end that she never cheated on Henry, directly contradicting the Anne of the song. When it comes to Catherine Howard, the tone of her song again casts her in a different light than contemporary accounts. Though not as demure as Seymour, she was nowhere near as bold as Boleyn or Howard. It’s also very strange to hear her insult Henry earlier in the show knowing that Cleaves lived out the remainder of her life in England as a member of the court and the king’s ‘beloved sister.’ I can’t say these differences don’t make for entertaining songs though. Anne of Cleaves’ song was actually one of my favorites on first listen. I love the attitude and the boldness. My complaint though is that both Annes seem more obviously altered than the other women. It makes them stand out a little too much, and not in a good way.

My second biggest issue is actually the one that bothers me the most personally, but not the one that I think will hurt the musical more in the long run. I’d love to place this in the number one spot, but I cannot bring myself to actually believe that this is a worse problem for the show’s future than what I wish to talk about later. Number two is a glaring issue, made more so by the fix being, I think, so simple. Six does not deliver on it’s promise. After my first listen and before I read the synopsis, I came away thinking Six was the story of the wives of Henry VIII coming before the audience to not only tell their story in their own words, but offer information and perspective not heard before. I don’t believe that happened. Each wife - with the exception of Catherine Parr who was apparently the only wife who knew what the musical was supposed to be about - got on stage and complained about their former husband for a few minutes before passing the microphone to the next woman.

After reading the synopsis, I learned that the plot was in fact a contest between the women to determine who would front the band. The criteria? Whoever had the worst time at the hands of their former husband would be declared the winner. Suddenly all the moaning and complaining made sense. But in the same instance I grew more frustrated; here was a musical that billed itself in the opening number as song feminist narrative where the women were going to sing a juicy tell-all and liberate themselves from Henry’s shadow. I admit I cannot say that the musical never does that, but if your only exposure is the soundtrack you’ll be left terribly confused.

Well, the musical half does what it promised. The women do eventually put themselves at the front of the narrative - at the very end! - but in very few cases do they add any information to the narrative. Catherine of Aragon doesn’t talk about her contributions to female education; Anne Boleyn does not reveal her framing; Jane Seymour says what we already know, that her value is based entirely on her son; Anne of Cleaves says nothing of her friendship with Henry’s daughters and influence at court. Catherine Howard gets a pass, although her song could have been more explicit. She at least hints that her relationships were not as rosy as we would be led to believe. Catherine Parr, finally, makes good on the promise given at the beginning of the show and talks about her own life and accomplishments, but at this point the damage is done. You’re already eight songs into a nine song musical and this is the first you’re hearing any of the wives sing about themselves in a context outside of their marriage. It makes Parr’s song feel like the one that doesn’t belong! That shouldn’t be the case.

Just look for a second at these lines from ‘Ex-Wives’:

“A story that you think you’ve heard before” - implies that they will be adding something new

“History’s about to get overthrown” - (great pun) implies the same thing

“Welcome to the show, to the historemix / Switching up the flow” - also implying something more than the usual story

“Raising up the roof till we hit the ceiling” - I’m assuming this is supposed to be a glass ceiling reference. It just seems really weak. Like, what glass ceiling are they breaking? Why did you write this line?

“Get ready for the truth that we’ll be revealing” - and I’m still waiting

“You’re gonna find out how we got unfriended” - just a stupid line for Anne of Cleaves to say in my humble opinion; but again also implies the will be telling their side of the story or a more complete story - the truth

“Tonight we gonna do ourselves justice” - I mean, do I even need to say anything at this point?

“But I’m not what I seem, or am I? / Stick around and you’ll suddenly see more” - another great pun but more importantly Jane didn’t add anything new to her story when it came time to sing.

“Funny how we all discuss that / But never Henry’s little-” - they never consummate the marriage (okay yes I know I’m nitpicking at this point, but seriously, where did the animosity come from Anne?)

“I bet you wanna know how we got this far” - yes I would love to know but you never tell me!

A little excessive in making my point? Perhaps. But can you see my point now? The opening song promises something different than what the plot provides.

And finally, the number one problem that I think this musical faces. Ready?

It doesn’t have a musical identity.

No really.

There’s nothing.

Six is a musical made up of nine songs that could not be more separate. There’s no central theme. There’s not one (or two) songs you can point to and say “here you go! If you want to understand Six then just listen to this.” I’ve been wracking my brain over this question, but I can’t come up with a satisfactory answer. “Six” has the strongest case for being the musical’s identity in that it carries the message, but are you really going to show someone the last song when convincing them to watch it? I sometimes wonder if Six’s lack of identity is due to its structure. If I had to place it somewhere, it almost feels like a revue, but, although thin, it does still have an overarching story. So what is this strange pop musical? Who is she supposed to be?

If you love the show, then great. It’s always important to have something you get enjoyment out of, and I’m genuinely happy for you. But no matter how many times I blast “No Way” in the car, I can’t get what I can only see as glaring faults completely out of the way of me enjoying Six. I feel led on, and that’s a disappointment that no amount of pretty harmonies or attitude or “All You Wanna Do” can fix. At the end of the day, Six is a misleading opening followed by some bops and then curtain. That’s all she wrote folks. The end. Go home.

Post-Writing Note: Soooooo I’ve watched some clips from different live performances by this point, and I have to admit that Six is actually pretty funny. The little intros for each queen are precious. Howard dissing the other queens before launching into song had me rolling. However, this almost makes me stand by my complaints more. If the live version is this funny, sometimes catty, a little witty, and ultimately heartfelt show, where is that reflected in the soundtrack? You hear it in the solo performances, but it doesn’t change that what is set up in the first song is not the show. It’s strange. I’m torn between wanting to see it, and wanting it to change a little before I spend the money.

#six #six the musical #musicals

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yaboymercury · 5 years

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Gassy Lessons - Second class: Maths

It had been about a week since Jay's incident with Mr Stevens and he'd trying to avoid him since but everytime he would see the teacher he would get a little smirk which quite honestly scared the student at what it could mean.

While Jay was usually average at most of his subjects, Maths was a struggle for him and because of that he was usually part of a catch up tutor group, and since he was redoing the year, he would have to redo the group again.

As he walked to the classroom where the class was housed over the lunch break he remembered that there was one positive. The horrible teacher who usually ran the group had retired so there would be a new one, Jay thought a little on what the teacher would be like, but he didn't want to think about teachers too much ever since his smelly experience with Mr Stevens.

Jay seemed to be the last to enter the classroom except the teacher, he didn't know any of the students since he was stuck with the year group usually below him. There were only three others, two friends sitting at the back and another guy looking out a window seat. Attempting to avoid both he sat at the front middle.

When the door eventually opened again Jay was in shock at the man who walked in. Jay tended to avoid using the word since he found it a little bit of a cliché but as soon as he saw him all he could think was "daddy". The man fit the bill perfectly with styled up dark grey hair and a bushy but styled beard to match. A fuller figure than usual but as he walked past Jay noticed that a lot went to his gargantuan ass as well barely being held back by the trousers held up by suspenders.

As the man sunk into his chair he scanned the room with a kind but authoritarian glance.

"Some of you may not know me yet, but I am Mr. Johnson and as well as starting work here this year I've also been assigned with your group."

He began logging into the computer, but despite being such a boring activity, Jay couldn't take his eyes off the older man. After a while he stood up to turn on the projector which was right next to Jay's desk. Standing away from Jay, he got a perfect view at his ass, and despite his recent traumatic experiences he couldn't look away even getting a hint at his natural musky smell. As he heard the whirr of the projector firing up Jay looked up and noticed that Johnson was looking down at him, he had obviously noticed Jay staring but instead of saying anything he just smirked. Jay blushed as the man walked back to his desk and tried to forget about it.

"Now since you're all so behind with maths I've been given permission by the board to use whatever methods I please which I'm very pleased about," he said this with a smirk which confused Jay leaving him wondering what he meant "but for a while I'm just going to ask you some questions from this slideshow."

And for about ten minutes it went as so, him clicking through slides with his remote going through the questions and each time asking a different person. Despite the questions being quite normal for the students at their level since they all struggled they only got about a quarter of them right on average. And each time they failed Mr Johnson sighed or said something along the lines of "think about it harder" or "come on lads at least try". This went on until he stood up in front of the board sliding the remote into his blazer pocket.

"Alright then lads it seems this method isn't working so I think I'll have to supply some more motivation, so when you fail a question there will be punishment." And as if on queue:

FFRRRRRRRRRAP

The teacher smiled at his outburst, it had not been an accident obviously. He smiled at the students and sitting near the front Jay got a whiff of an odorous cheesy smell, he wasn't ready for this again. The other students obviously didn't know what to think, Jay looked back and saw the friends laughing a little with eachother obviously thinking it was a mistake while the other boy just looked shocked.

"Okay then, let's begin."

He started with the students in the back, the first friend was lucky to get the first question right but as Johnson strolled over to the back to ask the second the next question he admitted he couldn't answer it.

"Well then I guess you're lucky..."

Mr Johnson turned around theatrically pointing his ass clearly at its target and then.

PRRRRRARP

It was quick but loud and clear. Both boys started coughing immediately and wretching while Johnson only chuckled.

"Dude what the hell was that." The victim of the gas out complained.

"I warned you didn't I?" Johnson replied mockingly.

"I thought you were joking?" He was still in shock as were the other three students.

"You think I joke about gas like that??" the teacher shook his ass with one of his hands.

Leaving them in disbelief he began walking to the boy at the window. As he did so the second boy was still coughing mumbling something along the lines of 'fuck it stinks' while his friend got up and moved to a different seat "Man I'm not sitting in that stink cloud especially if you're gonna be shit." His friend couldn't even complain.

Johnson sat down on the windowsill in front of the other student. And unluckily for him he couldn't answer the question either. Johnson laughed at what was coming and patted his stomach. He leaned over on the sill and grimaced.

Pfffffffffffffff

The audible stream of gas could be heard. It took a moment but the boy who was obviously waiting for it to hit him went pale.

"Sir I think I'm going to be sick" and gagging he got scampered out of the class.

"Obviously some can't handle it, I'm sure you all won't blame him when you get a whiff."

Johnson wasn't wrong, when it reaches the other two they started trying to wave the smell away but it obviously didn't work as they complained and when the dirty shitty scent hit Jay his eyes got wet almost stinging at the smell.

He came up to Jay and the boy gulped. The man loomed over him looking down. But luckily for Jay he knew the answer, only just though.

"Seems like I'll have to wait to ruin that virgin nose of yours huh?" He accentuated the statement smacking his ass. Jay knew this man had some serious gaspower but he worried that soon his math ability would let him down.

Johnson got back to the first student who had now moved from his friend. And this time he wasn't so lucky.

"Ah sweet vengeance, but I think you might find it more stinky!"

Looking back in horror Jay saw the man cock up his leg in the direction of the boy like loading a gun.

FRAAAAAAAAAAAARP

It was the worst so far and Jay bet he saw his hair get blown back in what must have been a wave of stench. It was obviously too much for him as Jay saw the spirit leave his body as he slumped forward head landing in the teachers ass then sliding off it into the desk. While Jay pitied him, seeing him so close to the teachers ass made him slightly envious.

His friend obviously horrified at what happened stood up.

"Come on man we're going!" He tugged at his friend but he was out. He gave up and headed for the door but he was blocked by Johnson lifting his foot up onto the desk making a barrier of his body while also giving Jay a perfect look at his spread out ass.

"I assume you don't trust yourself to be able to get the next question right?" All the student could do was shiver in fear shaking his head slightly. "Well how about I trust you with this?" The man cupped his ass around his ass and Jay heard a light hiss as well as the other boy as he tried to splutter out an excuse, but before he could Johnson had one hand holding back the boys head while he brought the other from his ass to flat over his mouth and nose. After that all Johnson had to do was step out of the way as his students body fell limp to the floor.

And it was at that point with a scared realisation that Jay noticed he was the only one left. And what deepened his fear more was the sound of Johnson locking the door before he walked over to standing in front of him. All Jay could do was look up at the stinking intimidating man above him in the wake of him making two people pass out with his smell.

"Now boy what's your name?" He obviously wanted to get well acquainted with his victim Jay thought. He mumbled his name back promptly. "Ah well then Jay since this session is now just the two of us I thought we'd ramp it up to something a bit harder especially for my best student." Jay was terrified.

Mr Johnson stood to the side and pressed a button on the remote, when the screen changed Jay's heart sunk. He couldn't even tell what it was, a graph? an equation? a diagram? He knew he could never solve it. While he was staring at it Johnson pulled up a chair in front of the board.

"Now Jay I'm giving you two choices, you either try the question and if you get it right that's great and I'll let you out early but if you fail..." he patted the chair "you'll be my cushion for the 40 minutes left of lunch..." The idea terrified Jay, this man obviously could let out monstrous fart as much as he wanted and to think how bad they would smell straight from the source "or you can give up now and only spend a minute as my chair." As scary as it was he knew that was the only option.

"Fine just one minute." Jay stood up and stumbled towards the chair begining to lie down.

"I think you might enjoy it Jay..." He smacked his ass again, Jay bet he knew how much Jay loved a nice man's ass but this was tortuous. As the ass lingered above him Jay's sense of worry grew stronger especially when the teacher held him down with just one hand on his chest. Jay had no idea how his ass was being held back by those trousers it was so damn plump that it was filling them to the brim.

"Now Jay let me show off a quick party trick before I start the show, an unknown variable if you will." The mischief in his voice made Jay whimper. He heard the man strain a little and as he looked up from the seat of the chair he saw the seam in his ass crack start to tear, when Jay realised that this mad teacher was destroying trousers just for this torture that he knew how bad it would be. As the seat of his trousers continued ripping open Jay saw the hairy abyss underneath and could smell the unwashed musk of this man's bare ass crack. Had he gone commando today all for this?! Jay tried to squirm free but the man above was too strong. Once enough of a gap was made for Jay's face the massive daddy of a man sat down on the students face forcing the boys nose all the way up to his puckering hole.

Jay was screaming into the hole his face emgulfed in the crack, but his voice was muffled so the teacher couldn't hear shit. But the smell was burning his nose and the gas hadn't even begun. He could barely hear above him:

"Now Jay even though you've only given me a minute, I guess you didn't know that that's all the time I need..."

Jake could feel the man's stomach rumble and he could feel his bare hole moving, he knew what was coming.

PRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAFFFFFFFRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPTTTssssssssss

It rumbled under Johnson's ass covering Jay's face in a bath of strong rotting cheesy stench burning the boy's sinuses and filling his lungs. Jay could feel the rancid sensation filling and covering him so much that he swore it was beginning to come out his own ass. As he felt Johnson laughing maniacally and rubbing his stinky taint over Jay's face the fart lost some volume but in its place the heat became unbearable like being in a sewer on a hot day. Jay knew he wasn't going to last the minute, the fart of the man above him made him his bitch.

When the minute was up Johnson lifted up his bare ass a little to look below to confirm that his victim had blacked out, and as he peeled his ass off even the teacher wretched a little but more in satisfaction at his own sick gassy skill. And as the gassy hulk considered maybe living up to his word, he was more pleased with the idea of having a seat to soak up the rest of his lunch farts.

So as the rest of the school was out enjoying fresh air, Jay was in the crack of a big farty teacher who was eating a meal he was sure would give get him ripping stink bombs in no time.

#eproctophilia #fart #fart story #fartfiction #gay fart #gay #male fart #stink #flatulence #man fart #fart teacher

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tdrcharmschool4 · 7 years

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Charm School Test #3: Do The Shoes Match The Dress? - Critiques

After wowing us with their unconventional accessories, we asked the students of TDR Charm School 4 to create an entire head-to-toe look using unconventional materials. Let’s see what the girls created!

Erica Strada

So here’s the story about how having 4 packs of leopard duct tape, some feather boas, some bobby pins and a dream, can get YOU this fabulous look! So I was looking through my closet for a starting base to create/build off of, and I found this ugly blue plaid muumuu that somehow has shrunk with time. I didn’t have a lot of time on my side, so there was a lot of stress, and I do mean A LOT. I took roughly 6 hours while I was at work adding the leopard tape over the dress until I ran out of all four rolls. Being poor and destitute after just having come back from a large comic convention in Tampa, naturally I figured the best thing to do is give up since I no longer had any money or tape. But that magical little voice in my head (Sally™) told me YOU CAN DO IT! So I bobby pinned about 6 feather boas to my dress and/or neck, threw together this classic ensemble, and history is born! Also, I wish I would have recorded it, but after everything was said and done. I hulked out and tore everything off my body in a fit of rage. *ANGRY ERICA UNLOCKED* So the moral of the story is leopard tape dress matched my leopard print sea shell compact. And the world rejoiced.

Analyse: Hi, Erica! I think you know a lot of the things I’m going to say, and we both know this wasn’t your best work. I’m happy and proud of you that you were able to push through even when it seemed like all the odds were against you, and that’s a huge part of what it takes to be successful on TDR, so kudos on that. Being under these kinds of situations can definitely cause the stress to push us to be creative, and you worked with what you had, but at the end of the day, it all falls a little flat. I do appreciate the coordination between the skirt, compact, and headband (which I think you said you also put tape on?), but the boas as a tactic to cover the unfinished top are a pretty big disconnect. Make sure in the coming weeks and if you’re on Cycle 10, you put as much thought into hair as you do into the look, and if you find yourself in this situation again, at least throw on a lip and some blush. Finally, when we ask for head-to-toe pictures, we need to see head-to-toe and not cut off at the knee. Again, I’m proud of you for pushing through, but we need to see you step it up going forward!

SALLY™: I’m gonna start by commending you for actually submitting this week. Your scheduling was working hard against you and a trope of TDR is that schedules tend to hinder and hurt a lot of the work on a regular cycle. However – I say that because this isn’t a regular cycle. TDR is hella difficult and the pressure amounts almost immediately on week 1. I want you to go forward in Charm School thinking every challenge someone is gonna go home and that if you don’t deliver, you could be next to the guillotine. Aside from that, I don’t have much to critique as I was essentially there when you were struggling with your concept – your unconventional material selection works well with one another but again my comments fall into the line of this isn’t a complete look – You need to cover your hands or wear nails when executing a look. Also, you have no head to toe angle so we can’t critique your heel, and a makeup look is most certainly required when you’re on TDR. I know this was a tough week, but it was a good attempt at best.

Toni: Hey Erica!! I’m glad you were able to push through and submitted to us today! While I enjoy the colors and prints I think this was lacking a bit. First off with the duct tape you really didn't do much other that just put it on the dress Iw ould have loved to see a large transformation of the material. The same with the feathers the just looked drapped on you with very little change from their orgional form. I also would have loved to see some accessories and nails as well. The pictures were asked to be head to toe and these are not. I also wish you had found time to put in work on your makeup because the point of charm school is to have you redo it week after week to improve it .

Kushboo

So I wanted to create a classic look instead of a futurist one, so I re made the hat which was a bit of a process . White plastic, black plastic, black tape and even some painted chewing gum tablets for jewelry around the hem For the dress, I used blue plastic paper, black plastic paper, cardboard, black tape, sellotape, lots of glue and ribbon. The dress started off as a cardboard cage on the floor. It wasnt as good a skirt- cage as a proper metal frame (or whatever the real ones are made of) because it kept collapsing, but I tweaked it a bit and it retained its shape. I pleated a million blue plastic bags and pasted them along the lower circumference of the cage. Then I did the same with another million for the higher rung in the cage, till the whole thing was covered. Next I worked on a black cardboard corset. I punched holes and strung ribbon thru the back to actually tie it tight , and it worked, although I had to be very careful. To the top and bottom of the corset I glued blue and black plastic bags respectively. The black plastic i tucked into the blue skirt to act as a petticoat and provide some relief to the color tones. The top half (made of blue plastic) had to be carefully cut out to create a neckline and loose armbands/straps. I used ribbon to create hems.

Analyse: Hello, Kushboo! This is cute!! I immediately get very Ascot-Gavotte-meets-plastic-bag-couture, which is always a good thing when your concept reads visually right away! Your thoughtfulness in using ribbon and candy “jewelry” to create finished looking edges is incredibly creative and definitely elevates the look from “I’m wearing garbage bags” to “Yes, I’m wearing garbage bags, but thoughtfully.” The shape gets a little lost for me with the cardboard corset; it kind of makes you look very boxy in the middle (which is never the goal), so make sure when you’re doing a challenge like this, you’re thinking of what will accentuate your figure and create the illusion that you’re going for in the best way possible. I’m a huge slut for nails, but I think this is a case where gloves could really elevate the look (and I would be endlessly impressed by gloves made of plastic bags!) All in all though, I’m impressed with the construction of this, it looks very cool, and it definitely gives me the idea of a character, which is always the goal in a fashion challenge, so good job! Can’t wait to see what you do in the next few weeks!

SALLY™: I love this look. Full honesty. I didn’t expect this, and what makes it work is the fact you’ve used a colour too. I was fully expecting an array of white looks this week and the fact you’ve used colour to break yourself apart from the other competitors really shows you’ve listened to our critiques and you’re really aware of what you use and do. Like it’s just CRAZY how much you’ve used but most of it is really unnoticeable, with their full affect elevating the look. You need to cover your hands or wear nails when executing a look. I’m gonna give my two cents to your makeup; it’s week three and now I’m challenging you to actually get some lashes of your own. Your boy lashes are too short and lashes will help your face come across as more feminine and will also open your eyes up too. Overall, good job this week!

Toni: KUSH!!!! I love this outfit so much!! I really love everything you’ve done here from shape to transformation of the plastic bags and so on. I think what could have helped is a bit more volume at the top of the dress around thr shoulders as well as around the butt. It could have given a bit more of a hourglass shape that you were trying to get with the corset. I love the head piece still as well and I think the two go well together. I also would have loved to see gloves or nails (which i know you tried to make but didnt get to). You’re makeup is improving week after week and its started tor really take shape. I think your big thing now is going to be darkening those darks, brightening those brights, and making sure everything is set and I (or any of the other deans) can help you with defining that while your doing your makeup if you message us.

Luna

This is Princess Papel. She is from the Staples kingdom. Her hobbies include being paper thin, and going back to Office Depot, where she belongs. This was, by far, the hardest challenge but also the most fun! For make up, I went for the most natural I could. I used my natural brows extended (the Naomi Smalls does it) and I liked it. I did a soft smokey pink eye. Natural face for a young princess. Think of her like an equivalent of a nymph that runs around with her little feet around the forest. If the paper was made out of paper. Or inside of staples. Y'all get the point. The outfit matches the accessory in theme and concept, so because of that, I chose not to use anything conventional beside undergarment (in this case one bra, stockings and undies.) I was gonna add a pump but I decided against it, as with this light forest nymph I was going for, I didn’t look correct. I stuck with this choice and am happy with it. The skirt is made out of folded paper, with a paper mesh elastic of sorts (that’s how paper mesh looks when not unfolded. I made each triangle from scratch and build onto itself the center part is a huge crystal quartz to tie onto the headpiece. Wrapped in small triangles. Thank you so much for this week!

Analyse: GIRLLLLL YESSSS. ~*THIS*~ is how you keep the momentum going. You started with such a strong concept with your homework, and I’m so glad that you could carry both the concept *and* the execution over to this assignment. I don’t have much to say about the look other than that there are a few parts of the skirt where the fold has gotten a little wrinkled, so I would just back in and make sure those folds are crisp, because that’s what gives this skirt it’s shape and dramatic silhouette. It’s hard to see some of the makeup because of the headpiece and the fact that you were intentionally light-handed with it, but I think with the character, you could’ve use the opportunity to have some really fun and dramatic makeup, be it a warrior paint or something very mythical-forest-creature. Going forward, I would love to see you with nails; they can very much feminize the look, and depending on the nail, can play into the characterization. My final note for this submission is that almost every time, not wearing shoes of any type will work against you, and unfortunately, this is one of those times. Overall, it’s a FANTASTIC look, and you should be very proud. I can’t wait to see what you do going forward.

SALLY™: This is such a strong look and I’m glad that it keeps getting better and better. The strength of your execution is killer and its crazy how well you’re doing in making things out of paper. The LEDs add a slight touch of colour, but honestly, I wanted more colour. To me, I was expecting more development with different colours of paper perhaps used or a new layer of paper to add some texture, but I digress. My problems are as follows; you need to cover your hands or wear nails when executing a look. Heels are an absolute must, even if you wore some sort of footwrap or fabric around them, the closed toed pantyhose kind of threw the perfection of this look off. Also, for your makeup, it kind of just blends in to the look, you want to stand out in this type of costume and not look like the dress is wearing you, and the selection of colours are too muted for this look – try to play with what would work in a dramatic costume like this, and really think about the colour story not only on your costume, but on your makeup side of things as well. otherwise, excellent work!

Toni: I ADORE THIS ALL SO MUCH!! I really didn't expect this from you and you blew me away with this submission. I think over all there is a lot of right going on here: the unconventional aspect, the shape, how it fits and looks on you. All of those are amazing. I think your choice to wear shoes (while its good that your making character choices) was a poor one because you could have done a lot with shoes to add another level of creativity like flats or ballet slippers something along those lines. I also would have loved to see a weapon of some sorts because you gave us this amazing warrior. Onto makeup it’s somewhat hard to tell form your pictures whats going on but it looks very light if there at all and I think you need to work on making sure you are building the features in the face that you want rather than just putting on makeup.

Nikita Nox

Hi judges! So i used a LOT of paper this week! I remade my peacock tail from hangers, popcorn bags, and a lightweight shower liner, my skirt from paper imitating movie ticket stubs ‘ADMIT ONE’, and I rolled my wig to give that fluffy glamor that I adore. My bodice was a cage made of hangers as well, painted to mirror the popcorn bucket on my head, and filled with packing peanuts colored with Dijon mustard! I’m out of the concession stand and pounding the runway (driveway?) til I hit the silver screen! Thank you!

Analyse: HELLO, Mx. Nox! This is a ~concept~. This is a ~story~. This is a ~character~. Yes. The detail and thought put into every part of this look has me blown away, and you should be proud. From head to toe, everything plays into the concept. I *do* wish there was some jewelry to compliment the look, but everything else is thought out. Really the only issues I have fall into the area of construction. We talked on Facebook about the boxiness of the top, and that’s really the only silhouette issue I have here. It’s a tough reality of unconventional challenges that sometimes the material just doesn’t want to work a certain way and something like that happens. The “tickets” for the skirt are a super cute idea, and I wish they wrapped all the way around in the front as well, but it’s not the end of the world. I think adding nails or gloves will really help to bump the polish of the look up as well. The hair looks good and is much improved from last week, so I’m so happy to see the growth in that area! My final comments are about your runway: make sure whoever is filming for you films landscape, and next time if you can, try to do your runway not on stairs. I think it’ll just be more comfortable for you. GREAT job this week, and I’m excited for what you pull out in upcoming challenges!

SALLY™: I love a real ambitious silhouette and this really excites me because of how creative the actual concept is. The inspiration is cleverly met with your unconventional stylistic choices of the bodice and the bottom with your tickets and really it’s the start of a strong concept. I saw your issue with the bodice bulk on Facebook and really I feel as if it works because of the “entirely unconventional” aspect of the challenge and really needs a few tweaks, i.e. a cinched belt perhaps (like you could’ve hot glued a giant popcorn logo made out of card onto a belt maybe?) and the tickets could’ve been printed a bit more – the admit one is very difficult to see, so you could’ve benefitted from actually printing those out rather than drawing them on saving you a little bit of creative time for tweaks etc. With your head to toe, there’s a thought everywhere – except that you’re not wearing nails or gloves. My only critique for the entire concept is that your makeup could’ve had a little bit more red on the cheek area because your face is slightly beige, remember eyeshadow pigments can double as a blush if you don’t have any! Great job this week.

Toni: OKAY I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS. I wanna start with your makeup because it’s whats on my mind. I think it’s getting a lot better (when i opened this It kinda looked like veronica mitchels which isnt a bad thing) I will say I think you could have worked on building a better crease becasue It just looks like eyeliner and then a block of eyeshadow color based off those pictures which is a look.... but not the best one. On to the garment I think it is stunning I love thte fantasy you’re giving. I think if you were to remake this youd want to use a normal corset and have pillow fluff instead of packing peanut and spray paint that yellow and spray paint the corset white and red to make it look more flattering. I love the improvements to the back piece I think you could have added some glitter or stones to it to amp up that glam showgirl though.I also feel that the skirt is lacking a lot of color that could have been added if you made actual ticket designs.

Ophelia Waters

The original behind my headpiece, and it’s connection to the later-made dress/outfit, was a kind of ballerina meets wood nymph kind of look! To compliment and mimic the headpiece, I created a dress using a base dress and then embellishing and covering it with origami flowers in the same style as the headpiece, attached with hot glue! To make the whole look a bit less simplistic than the original headpiece, I decided to go with a pastel-y warm colour palette, using reds, pinks, and yellows for the flowers on the dress and mirror-ing it on the headpiece! Finally, I wanted to tie the whole look together with a warmer colour, as with the dress, for the makeup by using red/pink tones for the eyes, contour, and lips!

Analyse: OPHELIA! This is such a great example of taking feedback, applying it, making it your own, and really pushing yourself to grow. This is a cute little look, and I wish the pictures were a little closer so I could see the details of the construction, but from far away, it looks very well thought out. I love that you aren’t afraid to play with different makeup ideas and that you really use makeup as a creative outlet for the look, and I think it’ll just keep becoming more effective as you work on technique and figure out that balance of blended and defined. If your drag isn’t to wear a wig, I’m honestly not mad at that, but know that if you’re cutting out certain elements of what’s expected like that, everything else needs to get bumped up to compensate. Overall, this is a cute look and it shows a lot of creativity! Good luck as we head into the back half of the competition!

SALLY™: Hi Ophelia! I like the silhouette and stylistic choices coming into this challenge so I had high hopes you’d apply your critiques to your premade accessory and also your look. Honestly, I do like this, I think your makeup is really cut and is starting to take shape, keep practicing! My concern is that from your pictures, you honestly are too far away for me to pick at anything with criticism. I can see that the bottom matches well with your accessory extremely well and your bodice is a little Mondrian – I would’ve lost the black stripes in this look and as an addition, you could’ve painted little pixie swirls to blend in with your hair and perhaps wear a hair net to compress your hair, just to emphasise your pixie concept we talked about. Gloves or nails please for the next time you do a look – they would add so much as there’s a lot of empty space around the top part of your concept and it would’ve tied the look a bit more together. Great Job!

Toni: I think this is so adoreable and I am so happy with what you put together. first comment is I wish your pictures were closer because its hard to see whats going on. But from what I could see I really love the shame you’ve created and it works well on your slim figure. I think you could have done a few of the little cones of paper on top of the corset to carry it all the way up. I lvoe that you addec olors to the head piece because it really brought it to life. Onto your makeup I’m glad you took my critique of your hair test and blended out the color because this looks AMAZNIG!!! I think if you had blended a bit more it would have been flawless. You also could have chosen to use eyliner to help build your eyeshape more. And just because I’m extra I think it would have been cute to put a few fake pearls on your forehead.

#tdr #tumblrs drag race #tdrcs4 #charm school #drag #drag queen #baby queen #erica strada #luna #kushboo #marina lumiere #nikita nox #ophelia waters

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ruwithmeguys · 7 years

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What are overalll thoughts on Dinah from the past 2 episodes, 11+12? I still don't see why ppl are freaking out on a potential O/D? I think the writers are trying to set up a GA/BC partnership that lacked from the LL version of the BC. I thought it was interesting that felicity didn't trust her yet and called Dinah an unknown quantity. Still burned from Evelyn. So dinah now has to earn Felicity's trust and respect that was freely given to LL. Another strike against LL and her integration into TA

Sorry this took so long toanswer Anon – I’ve had a brutal shift change at work that no matter how hard Itry I can’t seem to get used to! I really wanted to have this posted BEFOREepisode 14 but oh well…

Here’s the low down: I neveronce thought they were bringing in a new BC as a way to redo the GA/BC romance.Not once. Technically it’s been done twice in the show and neither time endedwell. They’ve learned their lesson. Before I get into this (LIKE I DO WITHEVERY ASK) I just want to add something I’ve never had the chance to before.

The BC/GA romance in thecomics suited the comics. It was likeable. I’ve read some of it and have noproblem with saying that. But sometimes transferring from comic to screen hasthe opposite affect to what was intended. It didn’t help that KC’scharacterisation of LL was beyond hard-core judgemental and bitter in season 1- it was understandable why but she didn’t allow (plus her and SA’s chemistrywasn’t close to what was wanted) for much softness and when she DID she took itback with a vehemence and confusing twist to logic that left many a fan reeling- nor did it help that she wasn’t believable when the time came to arise as theBC. It also didn’t help that, as part of her contract, her character was madeto be unaccountably and unbelievably self-entitled and contradictory (I amreferring to the way she did a 180before she died and the way they couldn’t kill her off or make her leave BEFOREshe became the BC). OR that, thanks to KC’s, her agent’s and the writers/producersinput, her character was reduced to two things in her time as LL & BC: anadrenaline junkie (an addict) and someone who couldn’t let go of the past, i.e.her and Ollie and her and Sara.

Way to reduce the heroicfigure of the comic version of BC.

But what do I mean by that?

‘Ollie’ was the love of LL’slife and she held that torch until she died (btw was actually painful to watchher say those words to Oliver only to have him keep silent; he NEVER SAID AWORD BACK- he couldn’t even give her a lukewarm ‘love ya too’ because itwouldn’t have been true). EVEN though we all know, because Stephen Amell confessedto it and because Oliver said on screen (plus he never told her he loved hertoo) that she wasn’t the love of his, she still kept to her season 1foundation. This lack of change, of progression, got her killed. That, in part,was KC’s accountability for never letting go of her season 1 moniker (mainfemale LI and character/budding hero) and the writers (or whoever’s job it wasto promote characters) error for never bringing her character forwards with therest of cast.

Even LL/KC knew in the endthat she had to go.

In many ways, her loyal fansseem to see the attention she’s gotten this season as tribute to her. Buthonestly, they should see it as more insulting than anything else. LL isreceiving more love and respect NOW – dead – then she ever did in life. She wasonly granted the Ollie/LL closure she should have had in season 2 in season 5after death and it was a literal rendition of ‘we would have never workedLaurel ; what we had died years ago’.

What the hell? Smack to theface.

Her (ugly ass) statue wasdestroyed by her doppelganger of all people, like they were saying it was timeto move on.

And notice how everyone canonly repeat how brilliant she was but can never give examples as to why theythink that?

Notice how LL/BC didn’t have anemesis. Not in 4 seasons did the writers ever grant her a bad guy of her ownwhich is the hallmark for hero’s on a TV show; if you get either a loveinterest or a storyline set apart from the other characters involving a battleyou fight and prevail through, it means you’ve made it as the female lead.

LL’s character failed inrepresenting the comic book BC many love.

Then along came Sara. CaityLotz man, she stole it.

In season 2 there’s a line LLsays to Sara and it FITS: “You stole my life.”

In a way she did.

It’s Sara who get’s Ollie/GA.It’s Sara who is the preferable BC. It’s Sara who gets her own TV show. ItsSara everyone wants back. It’s Sara who is able to progress, to have loveinterests and storylines. She was awesome.

Except… she didn’t work out onthe show either.

She was good in small doseswhich isn’t what we want in the female lead and for BC mantle. Her brand ofheroism didn’t fit with the show.

To a fashion, she temporarilyworked with Ollie/GA. But they couldn’t make it last: their romance was basedon the connection of their darker selves (believing no one else wouldunderstand or accept them) and, at times, lacklustre. There was no reason – notanywhere – for them to progress and the idea of that happening felt flat-outweird because the only reason why they started was because of their pasts.

And just like the LL & OQromance, they nipped Sara and Ollie in the butt. It had nowhere to go.

According to Stephen and MarcG, both of the above romances where based on the past, something that isconfirmed for the last time (because some fans won’t let it go either) inseason 5 when Oliver tells the Laurel hallucination that he could never loveher the way she wanted – that they would have never worked – because he was nolonger the man who she fell in love with. He died in the ocean.

Sara’s Ollie died in theocean.

Laurel had always been waitingfor him to come back, even after she donned the mask.

And notice that everyone whohas ever called Oliver ‘Ollie’ has died.

(Thea is exempt)

In Arrow, the past has to die.

I know Sara came back butaccording to the directors, she was missed so much they HAD to bring her back.Not LL, Sara.

Now, in its dullest terms it’s‘fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me’

No way are they going to makethat mistake again.

There’s another aspect to theGA/BC comic canon that doesn’t represent well.

On-screen, this pairing – theGA/BC part not the OQ/LL/DD part - are obnoxious. And by that I mean, they’reconstantly in competition with each other.

Like too much will andconviction onscreen at once; both figures fight for supremacy and it becomes abattle of wills that’s exhausting and often confusing to watch. It’s the Arrowshow not the BC and Arrow show.

Even when they weren’ttogether, LL and OQ fought constantly on opinions, on the reasons why they dowhat they do and how they eventually do them. She fought with him on how hedealt with Felicity being shot for God sakes. ‘How dare you be emotional when Ibrought my sister back and let her loose on the city and and and…’

SO did Ollie and Sara: onlywhen they split up this petered off and it turned into a friendship.

It seems with this new BC,Dinah, they’ve taken on board everything that didn’t work in the past and cutit out.

First, her backstory is -though redone/familiar - plausible.

Second, she – the actress andcharacterization - more believable.

Third, her relationship withOliver is exactly how it should have always been: she’s a team mate. Evenbetter, she’s learning from him. Not competing.

LL, even Sara to a degree,could not stand up to Oliver on the basis of experience. I know Sara was in theleague but learning how to be a professional assassin is a very different setof experiences and skills to the daily hell of discovering the monster withinthat Oliver had to face – alone - on his nomadic journey.

Notice how her first year onthe Amazo was spent being in the care of Dr Ivo?

Notice how his first year wasspent battling to survive with everyone trying to hurt him?

Notice how, when Sara wasbrought into the League, she had Nyssa the ENTIRE time to have some sembalncepeace in.

Notice how Oliver justcontinued to loose and infect the people around him with his growing darkness.

Notice how, when he was giventhe choice, he didn’t return home whilst she was never given one?

These are just a few examplesof their differences and I am not undermining the horrors Sara faced.

Those five years for Oliverweren’t one long lesson in being an assassin; it was filled with terrorism,violence, gang warfare, biochemical warfare, murder, vigilantism,sort-of-espionage, spying, missions and magic. And they weren’t five yearsspent building a grudge like with LL.

You can’t compare to thatexperience.

And LL tried to all the time.

Sara did when she was datinghim.

Both were repetitive and bothbecame irritating fast.

This new BC, listens. Learns.Watches. AND she’s totally badass on her own. She’s a female Oliver Queen andone day she’ll step out of his shadow and become her own hero. And when shedoes, FULLY, she’ll leave the team. They may team up in the future buteventually she’ll want to do things HER way and she’ll know not to rock theboat.

It’s so refreshing bringingher in because not only is she believable, not only do they give her courtesyof grieving the man she loved, not only is she physically capable, not onlydoes she fit in with the team, not only does she not fill the screen with pointlessmoments, not only does she not compete… she and Oliver have zero romanticchemistry.

A BC being placed on theromantic chemistry pedestal with GA on the Arrow TV show is like a deathsentence for the character, despite the actress. LITERALLY.

At the moment she’s getting toknow the team and Felicity recently gave her a mask which, as we all know, isArrow’s way of saying ‘okay, NOW you’re in business’. She’s been given thegreen light.

I think she’s also there tobalance the scales: Thea’s gone and so is LL/SL. SO is Evelyn. They needed awoman in there stat who could hold her own.

Like you said, not everythinghas to be about romance. A lot of people have decided that EVERY new femalecharacter on Arrow this year will be a love interest. It’s been super tiring towade through that kind of angst and I’m pretty sure it hasn’t made the watchingof it more enjoyable.

Stephen Amell doesn’t dobelievable romances with most actresses on Arrow anyway, other than Felicity.

And I believed in him andHELENA, more than I believed in him and Sara. Laurel.

The spiral needed to changeand change it did. They’ve made this new BC, this redo of BC/LL, a story onsecond chances and redemption. Oliver can give her the time and patience hewouldn’t give Laurel (and for that he’ll always feel guilt). But with this, hecan learn to let that go.

And hopefully, season 6 won’tbe a constant worship of a dead woman when, in life, no one really cared whathappened to her.

But I believe this new BC hasalready generated her own fans. Good luck to her.

(PS – with Stephen’s interviewthis week NONE of the above was necessary and I’m laughing)

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